Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, age 26, was still relatively new to the force on the south side of town, the more dangerous side of the city when he encountered a heartbreaking scene. A little girl with a backpack, who looked no older than ten, ran into the police building with three smaller boys (all also wearing backpacks) holding onto the hems of her (way too big) shirt, begging for the truth detector policemen to help them with tears in her eyes.

Tears that, tellingly, wouldn’t fall and with a brave face one.

His instincts were telling him that there was something wrong. His instincts were never wrong before so he went for it.

Tsukauchi observed the little girl. She had light-grey hair that reached just below her shoulders. Her eyes were heterochromia. Her right eye was a slightly darker shade than her hair while her other eye was olive-brown.

“Hello there,” Tsukauchi bent down and smiled at the children as harmlessly as he could, ignoring the way the little girl put herself between him and the little boys, “I am Detective Tsukauchi, the one you’re asking for, how may I help you?”

The little girl looked at him with suspicion, and so were the little boys. Well, one of the little boys. The second one was looking around the police station with a polite smile on his face while the third one just looked bored. Tsukauchi didn’t know where this was going, two of the children looked as if their situation was dire while the other two did not.

“I… I need help.” The little girl said slowly, “Can you help me?”

Tsukauchi nodded, “I’ll do what I can. Just for legal reasons, I need to tell you that my quirk, Lie Detector, is always on and will tell me whether or not you are lying. Understood?”

One of the other officers on duty started recording the conversation on his phone while another nodded from her place in front of the computer. His coworkers were ready to help, they have learned that his instincts were usually right. Something was going on.

“Yes.”

“Okay, now, can you tell me who you are and why you need help?”

The little girl took a breath and nodded. The little boy who was suspicious of him grabbed the attention of the other two boys and they all stepped closer to the girl. One wrapped their arms around her waist while the two grabbed onto her hands with a vice grip if the slight winch from the girl was any indication.

“My name is Aikawa Yua - well, technically it’s Shichimi Yua but I want to use my mom’s last name - and I just turned twelve years old, these three are my little brothers. The boy with the same hair colour as me is Azul. The one with the yellow left eye and olive-brown right eye is Jade, and the one hugging me is Floyd. They’re triplets, you see, though only Jade and Floyd are identical, minus the eyes, while Azul is fraternal to them. All three of them will turn eight this year.” Yua rambled a bit before taking in a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down and continue.

Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. So far, so good. The little girl, Yua, was slowly relaxing and started talking some more.

“I need help because… our Chichi… is an abusive drunk,” Yua said that last part in a hushed rush.

Truth. Tsukauchi’s eyes widened.

“Can you please explain?” Tsukauchi asked calmly.

The boy with light-grey hair, Azul, narrowed his eyes, “Are you calling our Nee-chan a liar?”

The other boys joined Azul and glared at him with fire in their eyes. Tsukauchi blinked. For little boys that looked around six years old and not seven, their glares could rival the new-ish Pro Hero Ereaserhead’s. Yua patted them on the head and they calmed down, they were still looking at him in a way that made Tsukauchi uncomfortable for some reason but he pushed passed it. He shouldn’t have pulled that all-nighter if he was suddenly getting vibes that criminals would put out from children.

“No, I know she isn’t lying, I just need more information to put charges,” Tsukauchi explained in a calm voice.

Thank All Might that he went through the workshop that teaches them how to deal with kids two months ago, he still remembers some of the lessons. Stay calm, talk slowly, and do not under any circumstances get angry in front of the children. There was probably more but that was all he remembered right now.

“After mom died, dad started drinking. At first, it was just a little, a drink or two before going to sleep. But it got worse. One or two wasn’t enough, he needed more and more. Soon, he wouldn’t fall asleep but he would start breaking things. I made sure my brothers were out of his sight when that happens. He did his best, he left us money on the table, and sometimes he was sober enough to cook our meals and take us to school and stuff but..”

Tsukauchi gave the poor girl some water. She still wasn’t crying but her brother seemed to have clung on tighter and started glaring at him again.

“Thank you.” Yua muttered, handing back the bottle, “But that was four years ago. He got worse. He was never sober when he was at home anymore. He still went to work but he stopped a year ago. I did my best to keep my brothers out of his sight, bringing them to the library, park, summer camp, and camping when possible. I couldn’t do a lot but I did my best. I even started doing the taxes and the like so we wouldn’t fall behind. Two years ago, he started to beat us, well, me. I did my best to keep my brothers from getting beaten but they still got slapped sometimes. We were lucky that our quirk helps our self-healing a bit or we would have needed to spend money on medicine and that would mean I would have needed to steal more from dad.”

Tsukauchi nodded, his quirk telling him that everything Yua said was true. He did a quick glance over the kids. There were a few fading bruises and cuts along their skin. It didn’t seem like they would stay for long so that was a good thing. They should probably get those photographed for evidence.

“Do you have anyone you could stay with?” Tsukauchi asked.

Chances were that they didn’t. Why else would they stay in such a situation for years? Well, there was also the wish that their father would turn back to normal, the emotions of a child should never be forgotten.

“Our Oji-san on our Kaa-chan’s side is our only other living relative. He’s half-blind and half-deaf but yeah… he’s the only one we can stay with. He lives in a house in Musutafu city, near the ocean.” Yua answered, “We couldn’t get there on our own, it’s too far, we tried. I know he wouldn’t be the best person to stay with but we would much rather stay with him than get thrown into the system.”

There was a fire in Yua’s eyes. Tsukauchi glanced at the boys and saw a similar fire in their eyes.

“Is there a reason?”

“Why, simple, we don’t want to be separated.” One of the children, Jade, explained as if Tsukauchi was an ignorant child.

“Yeah~ I don’t wanna leave my family. Also, some of the people are really mean, you know? No one wants to go there.” The other one, Floyd, said in a similar tone, only more childishly.

If Tsukauchi was a lesser man, he would have been very offended. However, this was just a child. A child who, by all rights, was probably traumatized. So Tsukauchi let it slide without even a comment.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Tsukauchi promised the young children, “Would you please follow Kunikida to the next room? He needs to take pictures of all cuts and bruises for evidence when we take this to court.”

Yamato, the new intern jumped in surprise before making his way to them. He had a passive emitter-type quirk. Everyone near him would be a bit calmer and more relaxed, perfect for dealing with traumatized children. Sassy, spiteful, traumatized children, Tsukauchi corrected himself when one of the children said something to make Yamato look back at him with teary eyes.

Well, if Yamato wanted to be a full-fledged cop, he needs to get used to it. He isn’t cut out for the job if he was getting hurt over the words of children. Judging how no one went to his aide, his thoughts were shared.

Tsukauchi opened his phone and started making calls. Yes, there was a bank robbery to deal with, and yes, there was also a murder to solve, but he wanted to make the children happy. If making sure they can live with the relative they wish to live with, albeit one who may not fit the bill for the best caregiver, then that’s what he’ll do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsukauchi returned from investigating the murder case, all he had to do now was write up his report, hand it in, and go home. Anything else can happen tomorrow. However, just before he could get to the room with all the forms, he spotted Hana, the police officer that was put in charge of the Aikawa Abuse Case. He walked over to Hana and asked for both an update on the kids and the case.

“The kids are staying in the rooms in the back, the ones we use when we need to crass at the station for the night. The boys refuse to let their sister out of their sight, we needed to do a lot of talking to even get them to let their sister out of their reach.” Hana reported, sounding a bit frustrated, “Understandable since she’s been keeping them safe but it slowed the procedure down a lot.”

Tsukauchi just nodded. Hana was a good police officer if a bit strict when it comes to procedure. For the kids to slow it down, no matter how sympathetic Hana was, would make her slightly annoyed.

Hana’s eyes hardened, “As for their father, we brought him in, at a different station to keep him away from the kids so they don’t go into a panic attack or something similar, and questioned him. It took a while since he was a bit tipsy but it seems like the only one he cares about is his long-dead wife. I get it, you love her, but shouldn’t he take care of the children he made with his wife? Or at least, not beat them up? The boys are fine, with minor bruises and small cuts, but the girl… the girl has major bruises and many cuts made from glass bottles. It’s a miracle that she isn’t more traumatized.”

Tsukauchi looked up at the sky - well, ceiling - and silently sighed. This wasn’t a surprise, a lot of abuse cases look like this, but it doesn’t make it any better. Even if it’s common, it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. 

“How’s the profiling?” Tsukauchi asked and immediately regretted it.

“Who do you think I am?” Hana asked with a raised eyebrow, as if daring him to answer that question, “They’re with the others, I put a copy of the rudimentary version of them on your desk since I know you would want to check them.”

“Thank you, Hana-san.” Tsukauchi smiled before leaving the policewomen to her work, she still needed to set up a court hearing for the kids. Not procedure but since no one else was going to do it, she volunteered.

After going into the Forms Room and getting the papers he needed, Tsukauchi walked over to his desk and started reading the (very basic version) profiles.

Name: Aikawa Yua

Age: 12

Birthday: February 20

Blood Type: O

Gender: Biologically female

Identifies as: Female

Quirk: Red Mermaid

Information on Quirk: It’s a Transformation Type Quirk. The user can transform into a mermaid-like being with the characteristics of a Red Lionfish. Note: In addition to having the fins and scales of a Red Lionfish, her skin is also pink. Also, if she transforms with clothes on, the clothes would disappear but reappear when she returns to her human form.

Allergies: Nothing

School: Namimori Junior High School

Next, he moved on to the triplets. Starting with Azul.

Name: Aikawa Azul

Age: 7

Birthday: July 15

Blood Type: A

Gender: Biologically male

Identifies as: Male

Quirk: Octopus Merman

Information on Quirk: It’s a Transformation Type Quirk. The user can transform into a merman-like being with the characteristics of an octopus. Note: His tentacles are black and his skin turns a light shade of purple. Also, if he transforms with clothes on, the clothes would disappear but reappear when he returns to his human form.

Allergies: Nothing

School: Namimori Elementary School

Next were the identical ones.

Name: Aikawa Jade

Age: 7

Birthday: July 15

Blood Type: B

Gender: Biologically male

Identifies as: Male

Quirk: Eel Merman

Information on Quirk: It’s a Transformation Type Quirk. The user can transform into a merman-like being with the characteristics of a Moray Eel. Note: The user is all greenish-blue. Also, if he transforms with clothes on, the clothes would disappear but reappear when he returns to his human form.

Allergies: Nothing

School: Namimori Elementary School

Name: Aikawa Floyd

Age: 7

Birthday: July 15

Blood Type: B

Gender: Biologically male

Identifies as: Male

Quirk: Eel Merman

Information on Quirk: It’s a Transformation Type Quirk. The user can transform into a merman-like being with the characteristics of a Moray Eel. Note: The user is all greenish-blue. Also, if he transforms with clothes on, the clothes would disappear but reappear when he returns to his human form.

Allergies: Nothing

School: Namimori Elementary School

Additional Information: He seems to have bipolar disorder. Switches from happy to violent and back in seconds. 

Tsukauchi read over the more detailed report under those profiles. He put a note in his personal agenda to bring Floyd to an experienced doctor at a later date to get him some medication to help manage his mood swings.

Sighing, Tsukauchi got up and checked the back room where the kids were staying. He nodded at Yamato who seemed to have gotten shoved into supervising duty once again. The children were lying on one bed, piled on top of each other like a puppy pile. The sister was at the bottom, Floyd was attached to her front while Jade and Azul were glued to her side. Her arms were warped around them.

The room smelled like medicine and their limbs were wrapped with bandages, but their faces were calm and seemed as if they were at peace. It was much better than he saw them enter the police station.

Smiling a sad smile, Tsukauchi turned around to walk back to his desk, where the pile of forms he still needs to fill out was waiting for him. However, from the corner of his eye, he could see a mirror that showed the three boys staring soullessly at him. He turned around but they were still asleep.

“I need to sleep…” Tsukauchi muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

He must need sleep if he keeps thinking that three little, abused, boys were glaring holes into his body. 

He closed the lights and shut the door. Determined not to look back in and risk seeing his sleep-deprived hallucination of three pairs of glowing eyes glaring at him.

Chapter Text

Azul officially ‘woke up’ when he turned four and got the quirk he was waiting for. He’s been getting flashes he couldn’t understand for as long as he could remember but it all came rushing back at once when he got his quirk. Unfortunately, with the quirk and memories, he also got a bad fever.

“Why? Why did this become my life?” Azul asked despairingly as he sneezed again, it wasn’t the sneezing he had issues with.

“It’s okay, Azz-kun. It’s just a cold.” His sister (Yua, his mind supplied) said with a smile as she replaced the wet cloth on his forehead, “I’ll be right back to bring you some soup from Kyoko-baachan, stay in bed, okay? Flo-kun, please stay under the blanket, you don’t want to get worse.”

“But I’m bored~!” Floyd whined as he reluctantly pulled the thick blanket Yua gave him back to his chin.

Floyd, his sibling. He was no longer his business partner but now someone he couldn’t get rid of if he wanted.

“Fufufu,” Jade, his other sibling , laughed before he started coughing, “Calm down, Floyd. You can do fun stuff when you’re healthy.”

“Thank you, Jay-kun.” Yua smiled, patting Jade’s head before leaving, “I don’t want to make you do this but you’re the healthiest of you three so keep an eye on them for me until I come back, ‘kay?”

“Of course, Nee-chan.” Jade smiled like the picture of innocence, “I’ll keep them in check. Promise.”

“Thank you, Jay-kun.” Yua smiled as she closed the door.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three-

“Jade! Jade! We’re related to Azul now! I can’t wait until I can squeeze him for rea again!”

“Fufufu, this is an amusing situation.” Jade agreed with his other half, “We are triplets, though, Azul is fraternal, such a shame. It would have been interesting to see what would it would have been like should we have all been identical.”

Azul looked up at the ceiling, regretting everything.

By the Sevens, what has he done to deserve this?!

“Oh dear, look, Floyd, our triplet is ignoring us, so sad. Boo-hoo.” 

Floyd coughed, sneezed, and blew his nose, “He-y! Azul! Stop ignoring us!”

Azul was determined not to acknowledge the things on the other side of the bed. He liked looking up at the ceiling, the ceiling was never chaotic. It was also dependable and easy on the eyes. The perfect companion.

A wet tissue hit his face.

“Floyd! What the hell?!” Azul yelled jumping up and throwing the tissue into the garbage as fast as he could, “Do not throw your used tissue at my face! That’s how you spread germs around!”

“It’s not my fault you decided to ignore me.” Floyd said flippantly before he started coughing again, “Besides, I just put water on the tissue, not snot, so don’t yell. Your voice is too loud and it gives me headaches.”

Azul spluttered for a minute before giving up and flopping back down.

“Oya, do be careful, Azul. You don’t want to get worse and make Nee-chan do more work, do you?” Jade asked.

Silence descended on them.

Aikawa Yua, their older sister, was a can of worms right now. She was part of their family, she was their sister, but they also feel like she was an Other. She wasn’t, and can never be, one of them. They could easily just leave her, it wouldn’t be hard at all. However… before their memories fully came back, they had loved her.

“Jade, what is Floyd doing?” Azul asked, “He’s being too quiet. Don’t tell me he’s trying to sneak out the window.”

“No, he fell asleep.”

“... what?” Azul sat up and looked over and saw Floyd’s snoring form, “He was never this quick to fall asleep.”

“This is normal, he always sleeps a lot when he’s sick, especially when he was a child.”

Azul nodded and closed his eyes. As soon as he was able to, he will figure out how to infect Floyd with fevers. If he’s asleep, he couldn’t cause him any trouble. Sure, it may cause Yua more trouble if she needed to constantly take care of Floyd but necessary sacrifices were necessary for a reason. Azul will compensate her, naturally. 

“Why do you think we have gained our memories now?” Jade asked.

“My guess is that when our… quirks… appeared, the memories and flashes we got finally started making sense, and this fever was caused because our brains were working overtime to put everything together.” Azul answered before he started muttering, “Are we still able to use magic?”

“Ooo! Fun! Let me try!”

“Floyd?!” Azul exclaimed, jumping back only to fall off the bed, “Oww…”

“Fufufu, are you alright, Azul?” Jade asked.

“Just perfect.” Azul snapped as he tried to get back into the bed, “I thought you said Floyd was-”

“Water Shot!”

Azul got hit with a face full of water which knocked him back down onto the floor, courtesy of Floyd. 

“Oi!” 

“If you didn’t want to get water on your face, you should have dodged.” Floyd said in a matter-of-fact tone before switching to happy as he started wiggling excitedly on the bed, “Magic works and there’s no blot! I can do spells forever~! Isn’t this fun?”

“No blot?!” Azul exclaimed, his eyes wide, “This… this is… the possibilities are… there are just so many things to consider. We mustn't let anyone know since more than one quirk would raise some red flags and a quirk with facets to it like magic would definitely draw attention but there are still many possibilities…”

Vaguely Azul could hear Jade laugh and Floyd making the bed squeak with his constant wiggling but Azul was too deep in thought to think about it. At some point the noise stopped, Azul briefly wondered why but he dismissed the thought in favour of recalculating everything he knew to fit the new parameters (parameters that have given him a much bigger advantage) for maximum profit.

“Azul!” A yell shocked him out of his thoughts.

Azul scowled, wondering who just messed up his concentration when he looked up and saw Yua who was looking down at him with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. Azul blinked, when did she get here?

“Azul.” Yua said with a smile on her face, Azul felt a slight shiver, “Why are you on the floor when I told you to stay on the bed?”

“I got kicked off.” Azul answered.

This was Jade and Floyd’s fault in the first place so Azul has no problem putting the blame on those twin eels. He refused to acknowledge that they were now triplets, those two were forever the twin eels and he was their ever-suffering minder. Not even reincarnation could change that.

“Your brothers are asleep, Azul.” Yua said before she sighed, sounding as he did when the chaos in Mostro Lounge got out of hand for the nth time, “If you’re planning to lie, at least make sure it’s believable.”

“What? They aren’t…” Azul trailed off when he turned his head to the bed.

In the bed, sleeping like the angels they certainly weren’t, were Jade and Floyd. They were even holding hands. Azul felt like his permanent twitch from his last life was returning with a vengeance.

“See? Now, I know you’re energetic but please stay in bed. I don’t want your fever to get worse.” Yua said as she picked him up and tucked him back into bed before handing him a small bowl of chicken noodle soup, “Here, eat… drink? Drink the soup. When you finish, go back to sleep.”

Azul took the bowl and started eating. Glaring at those eel twins whenever Yua wasn’t looking as she checked the temperatures of the two troublemakers.

“It’s going down…” Yua muttered to herself before she started shaking the twins, “Hey, wake up… wake up, Jay-kun, Flo-kun… you need to eat…”

“Mmm… mornin’ Nee-chan…” Floyd yawned before he grinned, “What did’ja get me?”

Jade yawned and blinked sleepily up at Yua.

Azul reminded himself not to break his utensils.

“I got you guys some chicken soup.” Yua answered with a kind smile as she passed the twins their bowls.

“Nice of you two to wake up.” Azul muttered, glancing at them in a way that showed the two that he was not amused.

“We took a short nap. It was a good nap.” Floyd said with a smile, full of teeth, as he started eating.

“It was a good nap indeed.” Jade nodded, already demolished his soup, “You should have joined us instead of leaving the bed.”

Azul opened his mouth to retort but Yua cut him off.

“Jay-kun is right, Azz-kun. You need your rest if you want to get better, so take a nap, okay?” Yua asked before narrowing her eyes, “Actually, switch places with Jay-kun, that way he can stop you in case you get ‘kicked’ out of bed again.”

“Yes, Nee-chan.” Azul answered begrudgingly, resisting his instincts to punt Jade and his stupid polite smile out the window as he moved.

“Good.” Yua smiled before taking their empty bowls from them, “Now, go to sleep, I’ll be back after returning these bowls to Kyoko-baachan and making a stop at the library. Do you want any books?”

“Can ya get us the movie? The fish one?” Floyd asked excitedly.

“The Little Mermaid?” Yua asked with a bemused smile on her face, “Of course.”

“Ursula should have won…” Azul couldn’t help but mutter.

Yua giggled and ruffled his hair, much to his annoyance, “Silly, Azz-kun, it’s a Disney movie, of course, Ursula couldn’t have won. The studio needs to earn money and they can’t earn money if the villain won, especially since it was a kids’ movie.”

Azul usually could understand how you would sacrifice some things for the sake of profit. Still, to turn one of the Great Sevens, The Benevolent Sea Witch at that, into some kind of cartoonish villain and not even give her the dignity and air of nobility she deserved? That was one sacrifice Azul could not forgive.

“Well, I’ll be back. Remember, sleep.” Yua said one last time before she left.

“The Great Sevens shouldn’t have been portrayed like that.” Azul huffed as he lay down.

“I do recall that Nee-chan said that this was the Disney version, maybe we could convince her to tell us the original version?” Jade suggested as he also sunk into the blankets that covered them.

“Ooo, maybe, it would be fun!”

Azul nodded, deciding to go with the insanity instead of fighting it. He was tired and sick, he needed a break. No one could be sane and the voice of reason all the time, sometimes, you need to know when to cut your losses and join the chaos.

“Riddle-san would be so upset that the story of his beloved Queen of Hearts was written by a man who was a pedophile.” Azul commented.

Azul felt like all three of their minds blended as one to think back to how they decided to search the internet for the movies they loved and stumbled upon the page about that but their then-childish minds couldn’t understand what a pedophile was. Now, however, they knew exactly what it was.

“Hahaha! Kingo-chan would flip! He would be all ‘ugggi’!” Floyd laughed, doing his best imitation of Riddle.

“Fufufu, it would be very amusing, I mean, interesting, if we were to tell Rosehearts-san about this.” Jade added.

“We can attempt to create a portal to our home, maybe when we have done a few more tests with our magic and how it interacts with our new world.” Azul offered.

“It will be interesting.”

“Ne, ne, Azul~! How did we die?” Floyd asked out of the blue.

“That…” Azul trailed off.

Silence descended over the room while the three of them shifted through their memories to find something, anything, that would hint at how they died. They were getting nothing if the silence was any indication. The last memory Azul had about their home was then entering one of their on-land office buildings for work.

“We probably died in an elevator crash.” Azul stated, “My last memory was walking into one of our on-land offices for our scheduled check-in.”

It was the only answer he could think of.

“Makes sense.” Jade nodded, “The last thing I recall is walking towards the hall with the elevators so it must be it.”

“What a dumb way to die. I wanted my death to be cooler!” Floyd whined before brightening up, “We can act like ghosts when we go back! I’m sure we can scare Kingo-chan a lot if we do!”

“Why Floyd, that is an amazing idea!”

“Hehe, praise me more!”

Azul decided that enough was enough, and buried himself in his bed before trying to suffocate himself using his pillow. Sure, he decided to go with the insanity but he had a limit and Floyd’s desire to be praised for something like this was that limit. Unfortunately, Azul knows that Yua has joined Jade in praising Floyd to high heaven when he wants praises which means Azul was never going to be able to stop them. Worse, Azul was related to them which means that until he was of legal age, he was stuck with them.

“Why… why, even in death, could I not be rid of you twins?” Azul bemoaned as his attempt to suffocate himself failed.

“Whatcha mean? We’re tied together forever, Azul, remember? I told you I won’t leave you until I could eat you!” Floyd exclaimed happily, a crazed glint appearing in his eyes, “I’m just waiting until you go back to looking delicious.”

“Now, now, Floyd. Just be patient.” Jade smiled.

Azul suddenly felt very small, trapped between the two eels who were already getting taller than him. He felt like prey. He knew, theoretically, that he probably could fight both of them off will little trouble and maybe win but it didn’t make the feeling of being eyed like their next meal any less scary!

This little octopus boy would like to go back to hiding in his octopus pot...

Chapter Text

Jade was in heaven. Yua, who has recently just been bumped up from the Tolerated and Slightly Accepted category into the Accepted category, has brought them camping and told them that they would be foraging for food. Which means he could pick out all the mushrooms he wanted for them to eat!

“Isn’t this just wonderful, Floyd?’ Jade asked happily, “I finally get to share my hobby and joy with you and Azul! I have always wanted to do this with you both but you two never wanted to come to any of my club activities nor did you join me when I go foraging during our days off and vacations”

“That’s 'cause you get all weird, like now.” Floyd whined.

Jade ignored him in favour of pushing a push away to reveal a large patch of mushrooms ripe for the picking. Jade’s smile was all teeth.

“Jade… please… no…” Jade vaguely heard Floyd moan in pain but he didn’t care, he just kept piling all the mushrooms he could find into the basket Yua gave them as he hummed a happy tune.

“Why, Floyd! Today is a glorious day, and how could I deny the gods when they have given us such a wonderful haul?” Jade asked joyously.

Floyd looked green and decided to pick the berries that were beside him. Jade wondered why Yua would ask him and Floyd to forage for food when they were just five-year-old kids. Sure she gave them picture books but she shouldn’t have trusted children to be able to pick out food that wasn’t poisonous. Well, he and Floyd were cheating with magic but she didn’t know that. 

“Azul was smart, he could just gather the wood from the floor instead of watching this torture. Next time Imma takes the firewood duty.” Floyd grumbled before pausing, “No, Imma beg Nee-chan to let me help with the tent, it would be less work since Nee-chan won’t let me do anything too ‘dangerous’ which means I get to do nothin’.”

Jade left Floyd to plot on his own while he gathered more mushrooms. He couldn’t find as many options as in the forests and mountains of Night Raven Collage but that was because he hasn’t scoured the terrain yet. Once he had been here long enough, he would know where all the mushrooms were.

Yua had told them that they would be camping every weekend, just the four of them, from now on until the weather stops them. That means there would be plenty of time to find where all the best areas where mushrooms grow and plenty of opportunities to recreate his creations from before.

“Ah! I should write down the recipes I remember!” Jade exclaimed excitedly after he swept the area, there were no more ripe mushrooms left, “Nee-chan would love the gift, she’ll make us something from those recipes if I ask!”

“For the love of… no!” Floyd yelled, throwing sticks at Jade, “No! No! No! Keep your twisted things away from me!”

Jade dodged all the sticks that Floyd was throwing his way and retaliated. They were still children, so it made sense for them to only throw thin, small stricks in at each other. Sadly, they were also human now which means that, unless they use their Quirks and transform into their Mermen forms, they were limited to the abilities of regular human children. It also means that their reactions were slowed as well.

“Jade! Floyd! Stop!” Yua yelled, freezing them, “What are you two doing?! What do you have to say for yourselves?!”

The two of them froze. Floyd was standing on one foot, he just dodged the stick that embedded itself right where his foot was, with a stick in his hands that he was ready to throw. Jade was hanging from a branch, reaching for one of the sticks still attached to the tree to break off and throw. 

Yua was standing on top of a boulder, narrowing her eyes down at them, daring them to continue. Azul was standing behind her leg, acting like a scared child but nothing could hide the grin in his eyes that were filled with schadenfreude.

Jade obediently let go of the branch he was hanging off of and looked at the ground, pretending to look sheepish and sorry.

“Floyd.” Yua said.

Floyd, his arm moved back and looking as if he was ready to throw the stick still in his hands, started whining, “But Nee-chan~!”

“No. Put it down.” Yua ordered.

For an ordinary nine-year-old little human girl, Yua has a very big presence, one that told everyone to shut up and listen to her. Jade decided that it only made sense since she was their sister. The universe would never put them with someone who wasn’t worth their time, though, Jade does wonder about their absentee father. The sorry man should take some lessons from his daughter if he wants them to act like his sons.

“But-”

“Floyd. Down. Now.”

Floyd pouted and dropped the stick.

“Both of you, come here.” Yua ordered, making them walk towards her.

Yua grabbed their arms and guided them toward the campsite she set up. There was a tent, a fire with all the cooking equipment they needed, and a blanket next to the fire. Yua made them sit down on the blanket.

“You two, stay here. You aren’t allowed to move even a muscle, got it?” Yua commanded before sighing in exasperation, “Azz-kun, watch over your troublesome brothers for me. I need to get some water from the river.”

“Yes, Nee-chan.” Azul answered in an angelic voice that didn’t fit his insides at all, “You can count on me.”

Yua sighed, ruffled Azul’s hair, and left. After a few seconds, Azul started snickering, much to Floyd’s vocal annoyance.

“Azul! Stop laughing!” Floyd yelled but did not make a move to silence Azul like he usually would.

Azul’s laughter died down to chuckles, “If only those poor souls from home could see you now, put in time out because of a little human girl!"

“It would give them quite the heart attack.” Jade agreed.

Jade could see it now, the simpletons with pale faces that paled even more before running and screaming. There would always be that one person who would wipe out talismans, crosses, and the like and start ritually chanting as if that would change reality or make them go away faster.

Even if Jade was laughed at by Azul, which means others might laugh, he could see the entertainment potential this brings.

“I don’t care! Stop laughing!” Floyd demanded.

Azul just smiled. They could feel Yua coming back so Azul must feel her too, which means he couldn’t laugh at them anymore unless he wanted to be put on time out too and Azul would do everything he could to prevent himself from being put in a ‘demeaning’ position like that.

“Good, you two didn’t move.” Yua sighed as she hung one of the metal buckets with water above the fire so it could boil while putting the other one down beside her, “Good work, Azz-kun.”

Azul smiled, “Your welcome!”

Yua sat down and took out the cloth that was sitting in the bucket of water and started whipping them down. She started with the open cuts, rinsing off the cloth in the cold water before putting it back into the hot water and going back to cleaning them. As soon as all their wounds were clean and all the dirt was washed off of them, Yua bandaged them up and gave them all a change of clothes.

“Let’s go to the river.” Yua smiled.

Yua herded them towards the river where she, presumably, got the water from. The three of them fell in line and followed her. How their underlings would laugh if they saw them now, following obediently behind someone so much weaker than them. Someone who didn’t even command a measly hundred men.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

“Owch.” Jade said plainly when Azul pinched him while Yua was busy pandering to Floyd’s demands to carry him, “What was that for, Azul? What have I ever done to deserve to be treated like this?”

“Don’t play pretend.” Azul hissed, “I know you, you were thinking of something rude and directed at me, weren’t you?”

“Why, Azul!” Jade gasped, his eyes wide in fake hurt with his hands over his chest, “I am but an innocent eel, so falsely accused! How could you? Was watching me being scolded by Nee-chan not enough for you? You horrible person!”

The twitching of Azul’s left eye was a thing of beauty.

“Jade…!”

“Azz-kun, Jay-kun, hurry up.” Yua exclaimed.

Azul and Jade quickly ran to where Yua was standing by the river. When they got there, they took off their closes (facing away from Yua) and entered the water. Yua placed the shampoo and soap bar on the rocks at the river bay before she started stripping, much to Azul’s panic.

“What are you doing?!” Azul yelped, turning around with his eyes closed.

Jade watched as Yua blinked before she started giggling.

“Awww, is Azz-kun embarrassed?” Yua giggled, as she entered the water.

Once in the water, Yua reached over and pulled Azul into a hug. Jade felt as if his soul was cleaned as he watched Azul thrash around before freezing when his back touched something his ‘gentlemen’ mind couldn’t wrap around. Floyd had already given up staying above water and was rolling around on the river floor in his Merman form, laughing as hard as he could. 

“Is Azz-kun growing up already?” Yua giggled, as she started washing the still-frozen Azul’s hair, “You’re still a baby and I haven’t gotten my period yet so it’s fine. Kyoko-baachan said so.”

Azul was as still as a statue, unable to move.

“Me next! Me next! Nee-chan! Don’t just do Azul! I’m your favourite!” Floyd yelled and pouted.

“Yes, yes, you’re my favourite.” Yua giggled as she moved away from Azul and to Floyd, pulling Floyd towards her, “Azz-kun start cleaning yourself with the soap bar, pass it to Flo-kun when you’re done.”

“It should be!” Floyd agreed, bobbing his head, as he leaned into Yua’s hands while she washed his hair, “I’m much better than those two losers.”

“Don’t call your brothers losers, Flo-kun.”

“But they are.”

Yua just shook her head as she sighed affectionately. After finishing Floyd’s hair, she moved on to Jade who obediently let his hair get washed with minimal fuss while still being a living being.

“Why is there never a consistent Good One between you three?” Yua asked fondly as he did his hair, “Di-chan told me that her older brother Tamaki is the mischievous one while her other brother Kyoya was the good one. They’re twins. When I told her that for you three, it depends on when and what’s happening for you three, she looked so shocked and told me that you three aren’t normal.”

“Is that why you stole her favourite pencil?” Jade asked innocently.

Yua’s smile darkens a bit, “Ara, what are you talking about? Di-chan lost that pencil during our field trip to the park. The pencil on my desk was a present from Kyoko-baachan. Don’t say things you don’t know, Jay-kun.”

“Of course, Nee-chan. Sorry, Nee-chan.” Jade responded with an identical smile.

Yua beamed at him before starting to tickle him. Jade mentally curses his child's body as he starts laughing. 

“S-Ahaha-top!” Jade yelled.

“Never!” Yua laughed.

Azul and Floyd were watching with glee and schadenfreude in their eyes. Jade vows to get them back. Moray Eels are patient hunters and he knows where they live and what makes them tick. 

He will have retribution and it will be beautiful.

Soon, Yua got tired (or she decided to let him go free) and released him so he could finish washing up with the bar of soap while she washed her hair. Once Jade finished with the soap bar, he passed it to Yua to use.

“Jade~! Let’s play~!” Floyd exclaimed, splashing Jade with water as he used his tail to squeeze Azul, “Azul is already playing so you have to join!”

“Floyd! Let! Me! Go!” Azul protested his treatment, “I am not playing with you! You. Are. Chocking. Me!”

Azul’s protests and vocal yells fell on deaf ears. As always.

“Fufufu, prepare yourselves.” Jade declares arrogantly in a way only a prepubescent child could and transformed.

It was just like they were kids again. Floyd and Jade tried to kill each other in the name of playing while dragging an unwilling and struggling Azul around using their tails, tossing him to and fro between them. 

“Enough!” Azul yelled, transforming into his merman form and started attacking them with his eight tentacles.

“Hahaha! Yay! Azul’s finally playing for reals!” Floyd cheered.

“Oya, Floyd, you better move, or else he’ll catch you.” Jade said.

Azul roared, “Stay still you menaces!”

“Don’t call your brothers menaces, Azz-kun.” Yua admonished absentmindedly as she got out of the river and got changed, “You three stay here, okay? I need to start cooking our dinner.”

“Okay!” Floyd and Jade chimed while Azul was too distracted by his desire to turn them into Unagi.

They played for a while, not even leaving the water when they could smell the food being prepared. It has been ages since they could cut loose like this in water, even if this wasn’t exactly the sea. It was frustrating they couldn’t just jump into the giant river that cut through the city.

Due to laws about where you could and couldn’t go along with the fact that if they transformed, they would be scolded for Illegal Quirk Usage. They didn’t have to pay anything or spend any time in jail because of their age but the water calls them like a siren’s call and they yearn to reciprocate without the risk of being scolded for hours on end. Yua wouldn’t but the adults would.

Even when Yua came back to call them for dinner, they were reluctant to leave the water for the land. Even Azul didn’t want to leave.

“Die!” Azul yelled as he used his tentacles to continue to squeeze them, a complete reversal of roles from earlier.

“Hahaha!” Floyd laughed. 

“Azz-kun! No killing your siblings! Let them go and come out, it’s time for dinner!” Yua yelled.

Jade briefly wondered if human children were supposed to be this nonchalant about an attempted murder happening before their eyes. Maybe they desensitized her? Or maybe she wasn’t taught right? Their Kaa-chan died a while back and their Oto-san was always busy with work so maybe. Though there was Kyoko-baachan who helped them from time to time, she was old, and not teaching material.

As Jade wondered, he watched from his spot on the river floor as Yua transformed and joined them in the river. She wiped around, letting her fins scratch Azul, paralyzing him with her (carefully controlled) venom. 

“Enough.” Yua said as she lifted Azul and swam back to shore.

Floyd and Jade looked at each other before returning to shore and putting on their clothes and started making their way back. When they got close, Floyd smelled the air and froze, slowly turning green.

“No… I forgot…” Floyd whimpered.

Jade’s smile was all teeth as he grabbed onto Floyd and pushed him towards their campsite, “What’s wrong, Floyd? For dinner, we have mushrooms! All mushrooms and nothing else! It will be glorious!”

“No! Let me go!” Floyd yelled, “I don’t want your stinkin' mushrooms!”

Floyd did not manage to escape from Jade and was marched towards what he perceived as Mushroom Hell. Luckily for him, Yua caught them a bird to eat as meat so it wasn’t all mushrooms. There were still a lot of mushrooms though, so Floyd hoarded the berries he found like a dragon so he didn’t need to eat the mushrooms to be full. Azul protested this but Floyd wouldn’t share.

Jade ignored everything that was happening around him as he shoved spoonfuls of mushrooms into his mouth, he was in Heaven.

Chapter Text

Regardless of what most people see, Floyd knows he’s a genius. Even Azul knew that he was a genius. Though, he only shows his genius when he feels like it. It isn’t his fault he’s not always in the mood to do things.

“Floyd-kun, you need to do your test.” The teacher said, pointing to the still-empty sheet of paper on his desk.

Floyd looked up and could tell the teacher was forcing a smile through will alone. The teacher was probably annoyed, just like Aka Ika did. Why could they not understand he doesn’t want to do it? So annoying. Besides, who would want to do a test about the names of colours and adding single-digit numbers?

“Naw, don’t feel like it.” Floyd said with a sigh as he got up, “Imma take a walk.”

“Floyd-kun, you can’t go. Floyd-kun, stop! Floyd!” The teacher kept on screaming, so annoying! 

The teacher even tried to grab him! Ha! So sad for him, Floyd is an amazing dodger. It was irritating to do it though since he wasn’t in the mood but being caught would have been so much worse. He just wanted to squeeze this teacher but both Nee-chan and Azul told him he wasn’t allowed to.

If he becomes Jade’s mushroom guinea pig then he could, but Floyd would rather sit in a white room with nothing to do for the rest of eternity than do that. He would never willingly eat Jade’s mushrooms from Hell. If he did, he wouldn’t be a genius and since he is a genius, he wouldn’t eat it.

If Floyd knew how annoying Elementary School was, he would have asked to be allowed to stay in Kindergarten until he was old enough to do the interesting stuff. Like dissecting food, even if he can’t eat the frogs and fish, it’s still more fun than writing numbers over and over again until his brain starts leaking through his ears.

Azul and Jade were only getting by because they were busy observing the quirks of the kids in their class, finding out the weaknesses of the teachers, and thinking about how to raise in this world as they did in their other world. Boring things. 

Floyd walked out of the classroom and walked around the school. He made his way to the rooftop and decided to take a nap in the side of the clouds that were covering the sky. No bright sun to disturb him. 

He wishes he could go to the school pool but there was a class happening there and he didn’t feel like dealing with people.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Floyd pouted as he sat on his bed, facing the corner. Since their bed was placed in one of the corners of their room, Nee-chan decided to put him in ‘time-out’ in the corner because he got in trouble. Floyd tried to turn his head but-

“Floyd! You’re not allowed to turn around!” Azul exclaimed gleefully, too gleefully if anyone asked Floyd, not that anyone did.

Azul was drunk on power again. Floyd thought Azul being this power-hungry and annoying ended after the Overblot.

Jade was just worse, “Fufufu, you can turn around if you want, Floyd.”

“Never!” Floyd yelled before focusing back on the boring wall.

There was no way anyone could force him to turn around right now. If he did, and therefore breaking his time-out time, Nee-chan said he had to help Jade with his cooking and be his taste-tester. Nee-chan saw how much he hated mushrooms and Jade’s cooking in general so she always made sure he didn’t need to eat them but now, as punishment, she said he had to eat them if he moved.

Nee-chan has abandoned him.

“You have five more minutes, Floyd.” Nee-chan said from the desk as she worked on her homework, “I hope by the time you finished your time-out, you decide that staying in class is important. I don’t care that you don’t do the work, I know that all three of you are smart enough to test out of Elementary School, but you need to stay there for a while since no one would take care of you if you do test out.”

“We can join you in Junior High School.” Azul pointed out, “We could test out and move to Junior High School like you did last year.”

“You could, but you still need to wait another two years since the Junior High School I go to won’t let you in, even if you test out of Elementary School, unless you are at least eight years old, you cannot be enrolled.”

“Then can we not stay home during those two years?” Jade asked.

Azul and Jade were busy looking at each other and didn’t catch it but Floyd did. Using the mirror he strategically placed, he could see everything in the room and he saw how Nee-chan froze for a moment. 

“Of course, you can’t.” Nee-chan said.

Floyd had to applaud her, not even Azul or Jade could tell she was tense or nervous or something. She could win an acting prize. If Floyd didn’t see her freeze when Jade asked his question, he wouldn’t have thought that anything was wrong. Well, he would have, he is a genius after all.

“Why?” Jade asked in a whiny voice that was very, very fake. 

Jade should never act.

“Because.” Nee-chan parroted Jade’s whiny voice before going back to normal, “If you must know-”

“We do.”

Nee-chan gave Jade a look. Jade was really playing up the annoying kid act and Nee-chan knew it. Jade just gave her a smile, which Nee-chan returned but her smile was more fond than amused. 

That’s just wrong.

No one should look at Jade with any fondness.

That's just gross.

And wrong.

Very wrong.

Floyd feels like he was going to barf. Someone should check to see if there was anything wrong with Nee-chan's head.

Jade stealthily reached over and pinched him. Was he really that obvious? No. Jade just knew like he always does.

“If you must know, it’s because no one can look after you three. I am in school so I can’t take care of you, our Chichi is not able to take care of all three of you as he is right now since he’s sick, and it is against the law for children who aren’t even ten years old, no matter how mature you three are most of the time, to be alone at home without any supervision.” Nee-chan explained.

Nee-chan lied about their Oto-san being sick. There was no proof that he could see or hear that their Oto-san wasn’t sick but Floyd knew that their Oto-san wasn't sick and Nee-chan was lying to them for some reason.

Maybe their Oto-san was sick in the head? Like how their teachers said Floyd was? Well, their Oto-san was the only one in their family who is sick in the head, Floyd was just a genius that their phytoplankton brains cannot comprehend. 

It isn’t Floyd’s fault they were born so stupid. 

Floyd isn’t bullying his teachers, he was just stating a fact.

He probably shouldn’t say it out loud though, he might get punished again and the risk of becoming Jade’s taste-tester wasn’t worth telling uneducated people the truth. They might even like being stuck in their tiny fish tank.

Safe from the predators who want to eat them.

If they want to be dumb, then Floyd won't waste his precious energy trying to make them smart.

“Your five minutes are up, Floyd.” Nee-chan said.

Floyd cheered and turned around, happy to be finally done with that boring punishment. If it weren’t for the mushrooms, he would have run away a long time ago. To be fair, he did try to run at first but Nee-chan paralyzed him and threatened that she would do it again just so that Jade could feed him if he didn’t serve his sentence.

“Now Floyd, do you promise not to walk out of class again?” Nee-chan asked seriously.

“Yes, Nee-chan.” Floyd sighed and pouted.

Nee-chan smiled, ruffled his hair, and kissed his forehead before returning to the desk to do her homework. At least, Floyd thought it was homework. However, on closer inspection, they look like those important forms Azul had to do and never let him touch them in fear of ‘ruining’ them.

Floyd feels that something bad was going to happen. As a genius, Floyd has learned never to ignore his gut so it means something bad will happen.

Whatever, Floyd can deal with it if anything happens. All he hopes is that there won't be anything related to mushrooms.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Floyd followed Azul and Jade as they made their way into the house. Yua went to buy groceries for dinner (or just dinner in general, Floyd wasn’t listening, that was Jade and Azul’s job) and told them to stay in the backyard until she got back but it was so small that there wasn’t much to do and Jade was getting hungry so they decided to disobey and go to the kitchen for a snack. 

“Honestly, Yua is way too protective of us. Even if we were normal children, I think this is just too much.” Azul huffed.

Jade nodded, “Though she is nowhere near as bad as Riddle-san’s mother, she is too afraid of leaving us alone at home.”

“Maybe it’s because our Chichi is sick?” Floyd asked.

Azul was too dignified to roll his eyes but it was close, “We have not seen our Chichi in a long while. Sure, he doesn’t look all that well, he drinks a bit too much, and he does grab us a tad bit too tightly for normal human standards, but he’s nothing to be afraid of. What’s the worst he could do? Give us a lecture about something rather ridiculous and put us on time-out? It may be boring but that’s about all it would be.”

“Yes, she is rather protective. I realize that she is young but I wonder if she knows that she cannot protect us from viruses. No matter, if she does not know, she will learn but for now, I am hungry,” Jade said.

Floyd resigned himself to watching Jade turn into a vacuum for the next few minutes as they entered the kitchen. The way Jade’s jaw all but unhinges when he practically inhales all the food… Floyd had thought that he wouldn’t have to see that again when he died the first time but here he is now.

He can do it too, but he looks much cuter when he does it. Jade just looked ugly.

At least Jade was only planning to make small sandwiches so it wouldn’t be that bad.

When Jade finished making them the sandwiches, they all sat at the table and started eating. It was a bit strange to be eating at the table since Nee-chan had insisted that they all eat in their room or outside in the backyard for every meal. She would bring the meals to their room or bring them outside to eat.

Just as they were cleaning up, a man stumbled into the kitchen with an almost empty large-sized beer bottle in his hands. His face was red, he had bloodshot eyes which were a bit unfocused, and he smelled strongly of beer.

“Oto-san.” Azul greeted the man with a smile, skillfully hiding how disgusted Floyd knew he was. Their Oto-san was the furthest thing from Azul’s idea of what a gentleman should look and act like. 

The man looked at them for a while, looking a bit confused before focusing, “Ah, you three, the triplets… Floyd, Azul, and Jade.”

Floyd knew he looked like Jade but Azul didn’t look like him and Jade doesn’t look like Azul. However, while he started snickering, Azul looked personally offended. Like he was told his entire life was a joke.

“Excuse me?” Azul asked, his voice rising to a shriek before he started yelling, “I am not Floyd! I am Azul! And Jade is not me, are you blind?! I understand how you can mix Floyd with Jade but me and them?!”

Jade’s eyes were filled with mirth as they watched Azul yell. Floyd bet on Kingyo-chan’s anger that Jade riled up Azul about them being triplets one too many times and their Oto-san was the one Azul’s temper exploded on.

Floyd laughed, “Ne, ne, Azul~! Don’t get so angry, you should be happy you look as good as me!”

“I would rather die!”

The man’s face grew redder and redder. He took a long drink, emptying the bottle completely.

“Ya damn brats. Who gave ya permissin’ ta talk to me like that?! Huh?! And ignorin’ me afta words?!” The man bellowed, looking angry, “I thought I told that little girl ta make sure y’all don’t make a mess of my life!”

They all took a step back. They have met their Oto-san a handful of times, and they also dealt with very drunk people in the past, but they have never seen their Oto-san or any other drunker this angry before.

The man broke the beer bottle as he waved it around aggressively. They covered their eyes and head with their arms and a bit of magic to keep themselves safe from the broken glass flying about.

“Now we know why Yua kept us away from this guy…” Azul muttered.

Floyd wanted to attack, so he did. It seemed like Jade also wanted to attack so they both ran toward the man but were batted away when the man turned one of his legs into an octopus tentacle. 

Guess they now know which parent Azul’s quirk came from. 

The two of them were pushed into Azul, who was too slow in his current child form to dodge, and all three of them were slammed into the cupboards. It hurt. So this is what humans think too much pain is. 

Humans are so weak and Floyd hates being in his human form. He wants to squeeze his human form so he’d never use it again.

The man loomed over them, broken bottle in hand.

“It seems this man lost all rationale. He must have drunk too much…” Azul muttered with a slight winch.

Oh yeah, Azul did take most of the damage when they slammed into the cupboards since he was the one who broke his and Jade’s fall.

“Ah man, this is going to hurt~.” Floyd whined as he prepared himself for the broken glass bottle to swing down on them.

The three of them closed their eyes shut, tensing and anticipating the blow. However, instead of a blow, they were greeted with a tight hug and a yelp of pain followed by warm liquid dropping on their skin.

“Nee-chan…” Azul muttered.

Floyd opened his eyes and saw Nee-chan squishing them together, looking down at them with a smile. However, she was bleeding. She took the blow for them and the blows that were still happening. Floyd couldn’t see much but he could tell that the man still hasn’t gotten it all out of his system yet. It was also easy to see the minuscule winches that happened again and again.

The man was still yelling but Floyd couldn’t hear a thing.

“It’s okay.” Nee-chan whispered, “Give it a minute…”

After a long minute that seemed to have stretched on for a lot longer, the man stumbled back and sat down on the chair before passing out on the table. 

Without a second to spare, Nee-chan brought them up to their room, told them to stay there, and left. The three of them sat together on the bed in silence. For once, Azul didn’t know what to say or do.

“That… was quite the experience.” Jade said evenly. 

“That girl… she does love her siblings…” Azul nodded.

“I didn’t know Nee-chan had it in her!” Floyd exclaimed, being sad and silent was too boring, “She took it all without even complaining about the pain!”

“That’s not a good thing, Floyd. It means she’s used to it.” Azul hissed.

“Eh? Whatever~. Anyway, I was right!” Floyd exclaimed gleefully, “There was something wrong with our Chichi, and Nee-chan was hiding it from us! I was also right that something bad was going to happen! Haha! I’m a genius! Praise me! Praise me!”

“Good job, Floyd.” Azul said flatly with empty eyes, “I would like to be informed of any bad feelings next time.” 

“Meh.”

“Why you little…!”

The three of them started wrestling on their bed, they needed to get their desire for fighting (one that built up during their fight with the man) out of their system. Tickling sides, elbows jabbing ribs, hair pulling, reintroducing their fists to the other’s faces, and reintroducing their feet to the other’s stomachs. 

They were still fighting when Nee-chan came back.

Nee-chan sighed fondly, “At least you three are still as energetic as always.”

The three of them stopped fighting and turned to face Nee-chan. She was still smiling at them, but the smell of blood was still there. It was hidden under the smell of anti-infection spray but, now that they know it should be there, they could smell it. Come to think of it, Nee-chan always smells like this.

“Ne, ne, Nee-chan, is this why you always smell like disinfection alcohol?” Floyd asked curiously.

Nee-chan gave him a sad smile and nodded.

“What?! How long has this- why haven’t you- why didn’t we know?!” Azul freaked out by the lack of knowledge.

Jade was still smiling but his eyes weren’t. If Floyd had to guess, Jade was upset that he didn’t know either.

“This has been going on for a while. I haven’t said anything yet because I needed to get everything in order and check things so we wouldn’t get separated if we get pushed into the Foster Care System or any orphanages. As for why we didn’t know…” Nee-chan brought them into a hug and smiled down at them, “I was keeping it from you the best I could. You three are my precious little brothers, I don’t want to see you three hurt. However, I guess it’s time to have a serious conversation.”

The four of them sat down on the floor to talk. Nee-chan told them about everything and how this was the worse that happened to her. Apparently, Azul and Nee-chan share the same hair colour as their Kaa-chan which made the man angrier since it seems like his wife was yelling at him from beyond the grave instead of continuing to love him as he wished. 

Appearance-wise, Azul had their Kaa-chan’s hair and their Oto-san’s eyes while he and Jade had their Oto-san’s hair and their Kaa-chan’s eyes before they got their quirk. Since Nee-chan looked the most like their Kaa-chan, so long as she kept her right eye closed, their drunk Oto-san wouldn’t hurt her as badly. However, the three of them looked like a mix of their parents so they didn’t have the same ‘protection’.

At the end of the conversation, Nee-chan gave them some snacks as dinner before they got ready to sleep. Nee-chan left them when they were tucked in.

“You knew, didn’t you, Floyd?” Jade asked when all was quiet, “You started calling her ‘Nee-chan’ as easily as you called Riddle-san ‘Kingyo-chan.’ You knew we would have accepted her soon.”

“I did?” Floyd asked before moving on, “Well, whatever. Now that you two are over whatever you needed to get over, we can finally… I don’t know what we can finally be or do but no more dancing around it for you two! That was getting boring.”

Floyd closed his eyes. He couldn’t wait until they went camping again, that’s when he could turn back to normal. If he dreamed about squeezing the man, then he’d be very happy when he woke up.

Chapter Text

Yua knew she wasn’t all that normal. She was smarter than other kids her age, stronger thanks to her quirk, and a bit more mature because she took her job of taking care of her siblings very seriously. She promised her Kaa-chan after all, her last promise to her Kaa-chan.

However, she had nothing on the sheer intellect of her younger brothers. Azul tore through the libraries they visited with the hunger of a starving man. Jade absorbed everything that Azul told him like a black hole. As for Floyd, he was a genius. Plain and simple. Even if his mood affects when he shows his genius, he just was.

Her friends asked her why she wasn’t jealous of them. Jealous of how smart and prodigious they were, jealous about how the teachers praised them to high heaven and let them get away with so many things because of that, but, to Yua, they were just her little brothers that she needed to keep safe since it was the last thing her Kaa-chan told her to do. Look out for her little brothers for her since she couldn’t anymore.

It was okay at first. Oto-san wasn’t all there but he tried his best and kept trying his best for them before he slipped.

When Oto-san slipped, it wasn’t obvious at first. He tried to hide it, at first. However, it got worse. He tried to find help, tried his best to keep damage to a minimum, and tried his best to keep away from them when he got really Bad Days but he kept slipping. It hurt to see the Oto-san who was so full of love slip so far.

It would have been easier to hate him. To hate her Oto-san because now, she had to work so hard to get rid of the smell of wine, beer, and other alcoholic drinks. To work to keep her siblings from finding out because, genius or not, they are only kids. Kids she needed and wanted to protect. To work to keep their house clean and the fridge stocked so they can still live there. 

It would have been easier to run away, just taking her brothers and running to the closest police station and begging for help, but she couldn’t. How could she when she could remember the business cards belonging to therapists, paper with information about rehab centers, whispers of apologies at night, and the food he cooks during those moments when her Oto-san was sober? No matter what, he was still her Oto-san and she loves him.

However, love or not, it got worse. It kept spiralling. It was like her life was slipping out of her fingers. He just kept getting worse as the years passed. Yua loved her Kaa-chan just as much as her Oto-san loved her but Yua knew that this isn’t healthy or normal. She knew that, even if a parent died, the other parent wouldn’t leave everything short of working for money (even doing the family’s taxes) to their child whose age was just barely in the double digits even if she had skipped a few grades.

Grief is just love with nowhere to go. Yua knows this, she knows that her Oto-san is grieving so much because of how much he loved his wife but… did her Oto-san spare any love for her and her little siblings?

Yua used to think so but wasn’t so sure anymore.

If they had their Oto-san’s love, he wouldn’t have drowned himself in alcoholic drinks so he could escape from reality. If they had their Oto-san’s love, he would have tried harder to get better. If they had their Oto-san’s love, he wouldn’t have hurt them.  If they had their Oto-san’s love, she wouldn’t need to sneak money out of his wallet to get money for food and bills. It was getting harder and harder for Yua to see the Oto-san she loves.

The Oto-san she loved.

Yua is tired. So tired but she is trying her best. By Kami above, she is doing the best she could. 

When Yua realized there was no hope of her Oto-san returning to normal, she started planning. First, she did research. Finding out how to keep the four of them together is the most important thing after being safe. The only viable route was to get a relative to take care of them until she could get impeached at sixteen years old and legally allowed to live on her own while taking care of her siblings.

It was hard since both her parents were only children and it was hard but she did find her Oji-san on her Kaa-chan’s side. Luckily too since he was their only other living relative. According to what she could find out online, he was half-blind and half-deaf but he was still active in a lot of things. He’s in an elderly tennis club, goes to old people gatherings, and things like that. He lives in a house in Musutafu city, near the ocean.

Luckily, there was a field trip to that city so, during lunch, she slipped away from her class to go to the address and told the old man her problem. Turns out, he was divorced from his wife and didn’t know his daughter was married because, after the divorce, he left for America for work. They divorced in the first place because he wanted to pick up the entire family to move to America and his wife didn’t want to uproot to a new country where they were barely passable in the language. The old man had just returned to Japan, to reconnect with his family after retiring but couldn’t find them

Yua thinks he was just too out of touch with technology to actually find anything. Really, it only took a few google searches and a bit of hacking into the country's registry to find him, not that hard.

After working things out, Yua slipped back to the area where her class was, claimed she went to the washroom before getting a bit lost with no one the wiser, and went home with a new pen pal who just so happened to be her Oji-san. 

With that done, she moved on to step three. She needed to get all the papers in order because they needed all the important papers to make the transition as smooth as possible. However, before she could find all the papers, her little siblings crossed paths with their Oto-san, and things got ugly.

Yua was just going to get a routine grocery run after realizing that their Oto-san ate more than normal and that she needed to go buy more if she wanted to make them dinner that night since tomorrow was grocery day. So she went to the closest convenience store to buy some heatable dinner and a few snacks because the boys were being surprisingly good this past week with no teachers getting angry.

She should have realized that things were too good this week. When there wasn’t enough trouble with those three, there was probably a bigger incident on the horizon. There was a big incident. Her three little brothers ran into their Oto-san while he was on a Very Bad Day. It was only made worse when Azul, opinionated and passionate Azul who looked so much like their Kaa-chan except with their Oto-san’s eyes, started yelling at their Oto-san. No doubt he was already irritated thanks to the cute little antics of his fellow triplets before even laying eyes on their Oto-san.

When Yua realized the three weren’t in the backyard, she panicked. Rushed into the house and ran to the kitchen when she heard loud crashes. When she got there, she watched in slow motion as their Oto-san broke the bottle in his hand. Before she knew it, she was in front of her siblings, keeping them close as she took the hits. 

She thanked Kami that she added sleeping pills to all the alcoholic drinks their Oto-san bought so he would sleep faster. It may not be safe because he was at risk of overdosing but she regulated the doses enough that it was more or less safe. 

Yua did her research, so it should be fine.

When their Oto-san passed out, she herded her silent siblings back into their rooms. Her siblings were so full of life, they shouldn’t be this quiet. However, she couldn’t stay with them. She needed to get the bleeding under control. Even with partially transforming so that she would have scales to protect her back from the worse of the damage. It didn’t completely protect her but it did enough. 

She entered her room where she kept all the first aid stuff and got to work patching herself up. Even if her Quirk has some regenerative properties that make her heal faster than a normal person, she still needs patching up. Grimly, she knows she was getting really good at this.

Once she was done, she put the first aid kit back on the windowsill. While she furnished her siblings’ room with bookshelves, a comfy bed, a large desk, a closet filled with clothing, toys, posters, a computer, and everything they could possibly need that she could give them with their limited funds, her room was bare. There was a single futon, a closet with the bare minimum of clothing, and a first aid kit on the windowsill. 

She had long since moved all her childish furniture into her brothers’ room because they need it more. She did her homework in their room as well so really, she didn’t need anything more than a place to sleep and change. 

Once she finished, she went over to her brothers’ room and sat them down for a serious talk. A talk she wished she didn’t need to give. The three of them were quick to catch on after what happened in the kitchen and understood everything. Yua was both glad and sad that they did. Glad because it made explaining everything else much easier but sad because, now that they know, they can’t unknow. 

After spending another month in the house, she got everything in order and packed her bags. The four of them waited until their Oto-san fell asleep and silently left the house towards the police station.

Towards a place where Yua could keep her siblings safe like she promised her Kaa-chan she would.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yua opened her eyes, felt the weight of three smaller bodies around her, and slowly got out of the pile with a soft smile. They were still in the police station where they’d been staying for the past four days but it was fine. In a matter of hours, they would be in Musutafu city to stay with their Oji-san. 

She brushed her teeth before waking her brothers up. After getting all of them ready, they ate their breakfast and waited for one of the police officers to drive them to their Oji-san’s home.

When they entered the car, her brothers piled into the backseats while she sat in the front passenger seat. After a while, the three children fell asleep. The police officer checked the mirror and started talking.

“You and your brothers will be transferring to Aldera Junior High School and Aldera Elementary School respectively.” The police officer said, “I hope your new life with your Oji-san is a happy one.”

“Thank you, sir.” Yua thanked respectfully, “If you can tell the rest of your coworkers that we thank them when you get back to the station, it would be much appreciated.”

The officer glanced down at her, “You speak very respectfully for a little kid.”

Yua smiled, “You don’t get much respect from the older kids if you talk like a child. I have to speak like this or else the hazing would be worse. Pride is a very big thing for kids and they don’t like their pride being stepped on by a younger kid who skipped a few grades to be in their class.”

The police officer laughed, “You got that right. Well, child, go to sleep. It will take a while to get there.”

Yua nodded and looked out the window. Like always, there were sounds of traffic, music, street chatter, screams, cheers, camera shutters, sirens, and monologues. Using the everyday noises of the city as a lullaby, Yua fell asleep.

For the first time in a long while, she felt so light.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The police officer dropped them off at the house. Well, he rang the doorbell, introduced them to their Oji-san, and helped move their stuff into their new rooms before leaving but it was the nearest thing.

The five of them sat awkwardly in the dining room where they finished their lunch. It was completely silent with only the fan making noise. The boys were blank-faced as they stared at their Oji-san who looked as if he didn’t know what to do about three children staring at him. This wasn’t getting them anywhere.

“So.” Yua spoke up, “This is our Oji-san on our Kaa-chan’s side, Aikawa Tadashi. I already explained why we never found out about him until I did some digging. We will be staying with him for the foreseeable future. Don’t cause him any trouble, okay?”

“Okay, Nee-chan.”

“Of course, Nee-chan.”

“M’kay…”

Oji-san coughed before speaking up, “Now. Do not expect me to raise you properly because I didn’t even have a hand in raising your Kaa-chan. I will do my best but don’t expect much. I already heard from your teachers, and the police, and I read in your files that you, kids, are geniuses so that makes my life easier. So-”

Yua hit their Oji-san in the head, “Don’t talk like that. They’ll think you don’t care about them.”

“This is how I am, so this is how I’ll act. I’m already an old man, which means I can do whatever I want without worrying about social niceties.” Their Oji-san announced, “Once you get to my age, you stop caring. Sure, I do love you as my grandchildren but this is my attitude, so deal with it.”

Yua let out a long-suffering sigh. She had a feeling, no, premonition, that she would be raising four children instead of just three. 

“Just so you know, I own this entire house, plus the lawn around it, and at least a hundred and fifty meters of the sea that way.” Their Oji-san pointed out the window, “Feel free to swim and go wild with your quirk. I bought this house for my wife who loved to transform and swim. Hoping that this gift would make her take me back.”

“Why leave her and Kaa-chan if you love her so much?” Azul asked, speaking up for the first time.

Yua pats Azul’s head, proud that he finally talked. She was getting worried he was nervous about meeting their Oji-san. It wasn't the nices question but he still talked. 

Their Oji-san looked out the window, towards the sea, “I wanted to give her and your Kaa-chan a better life. A life away from all this hero nonsense. I mean, it’s all over the world, but here, there was a big, country-wide case of kidnappings happening so I wanted to get us all out of Japan, it helped that there was an opening in my work that would let us move to America until I retire. 

“Your Obaa-san didn’t want to go. She loved with all her heart, you see. She didn’t want to leave her friends and her parents. She has the same Quirk as your sister, while I am where you and your Kaa-chan got the Morey Eel Quirk. We talked it over, but we couldn’t come to a solution we both were happy with. I already applied so I had to go. So I left.

“Our marriage suffered for it. I wasn’t there to help raise your Kaa-chan and stuff happened. It was easier for the both of us to just get a divorce, we knew that if we didn’t we might have ended up hating each other. I would have hated that because I loved her more than anything. I still sent money over but we lost contact after a while due to a big villain attack that happened around twenty years ago.”

The four of them kept quiet, letting their Oji-san drift into his memories. His eyes were glazed over for a moment before turning his full attention onto them, causing them to sit up straighter. 

“What do you four want in your life? What are your ambitions?” Their Oji-san asked intensely, with his eyes glowing in a golden-ish colour, “Whatever you want, don’t let go and don’t regret anything.”

Yua smiled, “Personally, I want to go into voice acting and songwriting, maybe even dabble in composing, as a career choice. I also want a house built underwater so I could swim for days. The ocean calls for me, telling me to come home, like a siren song. I want to make enough money to make that happen.”

“The ocean calls for you, eh? A child of the sea, just like your Obaa-san.” Their Oji-san muttered with a sad smile.

“An underwater home is nice. I want that.” Floyd nodded happily, “I want that, Nee-chan.”

“We can all live in the underwater home, then.” Yua smiled as she patted Floyd’s head as Floyd leaned into her hand.

“I want to be the CEO of my own company. I will make it happen.” Azul said in a voice that told everyone not to doubt him.

“I will help Azul.” Jade added with a smile.

Their Oji-san looked at them with an unreadable expression but nodded. He then shooed them out of the house with some pocket change, telling them to look around the neighbourhood and to remember to come back for dinner in a few hours. Looking out at the sea, Yua feels like she could be happy here.

The four of them walked along the road that was parallel to the sea. For one thing, it was close to the sea that they all adore, and for another, it was harder to get lost if they stick to a straight road with something memorable beside them.

“What do you think about this place?” Yua asked as they sat on a grassy hill and watched a flock of seagulls fly about above them.

“It’s better than before.” Jade said evenly.

“It’s closer to the sea, so it’s better.” Floyd declared.

“It could be worse.” Azul finished.

Yua smiled. Her siblings liked this place. Briefly, she thought about their Oto-san. He was moved to a rehab center that doubled as a prison. From what the police told her, he was resisting treatment on some days while being cooperative with others. They said it was going to be an uphill battle but if he gets more sober days, he should be able to turn back into a functioning member of society within a decade at least.

Yua still hopes that the Oto-san she loved would turn back to normal. Even if she could never forget what he did nor could she forgive him that easily, she wanted him to go back to normal for a sense of closure.

When she gets that closer, she can finally feel free. Until then, she’ll be patient and take care of her little siblings as she promised.

Chapter Text

Jade followed Azul as they walked back to their current house. Not home because this place doesn’t belong to them. Yet. They just spent hours in the sea, swimming about with Floyd and Nee-chan as they explored their new hunting grounds. It had a beautiful coral reef just outside the edge of the property that was beautiful to observe. Not as beautiful as the mushrooms on land but beautiful nonetheless.

Azul still didn’t like being in his merman form. No matter how much the water calls for them, Azul’s stubbornness makes him able to resist the call. As expected of Azul, he can do anything which is why he is so fascinating.

Even in this new world, he was still the most fascinating thing. Though Jade does wonder if it was his stomach talking, an octopus dish seems like a wonderful meal at this time of year. 

They left Floyd and Nee-chan because those two wanted to swim some more. Well, Floyd didn’t feel like going back to the house yet and Yua didn’t want to leave Floyd by himself so she stayed with him. To quote Nee-chan when he asked if it was her only reason if it let her stay in the water longer than it was just a bonus.

They opened the door to the living room and spotted Tadashi sitting on a cushion. Jade wasn’t calling that old man his Oji-san in his own head, he hadn’t earned that right as Nee-chan had. The only reason they called that man their Oto-san was that they never figured out what his name was. He was looking out the window, facing the general direction Nee-chan was swimming in.

Azul and Jade were just planning to walk past the old man after giving him an obligatory greeting, however, the old man stopped them. They didn’t know what the old man wanted to tell them so they stayed to listen.

“Take a seat, brats.” Tadashi gestured to the two cushions in front of him.

Jade looked at Azul who looked back at him. Azul shrugged and went to sit down so Jade followed him. There was a moment of silence as Tadashi stared at them intensely. Were they already in trouble? Jade doubts it. Mainly because they were careful and Floyd would have been the one who would be getting this treatment.

“Is something wrong?” Azul asked.

Jade just kept smiling. Normally, Azul would never speak first since it gives the other person the advantage of controlling the conversation, however, since Azul was playing the part of a child, it makes him seem like a child. Besides, Azul was skilled enough to turn the conversation in his favour and take control of it. Something as simple as that was (literally) child’s play for him.

“You two aren’t normal children.” Tadashi stated, eyes vacant, “No. You aren’t children. Period. You two and your other brother aren’t children, even if you biologically are children. Are you going to be a threat to Yua?”

Jade discreetly glanced at Azul. They were sure very careful, even letting their emotions show to some measure, and indulged in childish impulses to keep up the act. How did this old man who only spent five days with them (and barely interacted with them) tell them apart from normal children?

“Don’t give me those looks, boys. You three are good, but I’ve got much more experience on me.”

“My, isn’t this interesting?” Jade asked.

Azul pushed up his glasses, all his usual childish habits missing, “I see. Well, rest assured, we will not harm Yua.”

Jade felt a shiver go down his back as his smile got wider. It has been too long since he last says this side of Azul. Azul sitting up straight but with a lazy feel to it, smiling politely but feeling like he’s smirking at you, and his eyes as cold as the seafloor of the Coral Sea where they used to live. 

This. This was Azul in his element, ready to destroy the poor unfortunate soul who was unlucky enough to gain his ire. This was the reason he and Floyd followed him for so long, for the fun he brings them. The anticipation, the thrill he gets when he watches the plan play out, the madness that comes from the aftermath... Jade could never get enough of this.

Tadashi stared into their eyes, “I hope you never harm her. If she gets purposely put in harm's way because of you kids, there will be hell to pay.”

“Why are you so protective of her?” Azul asked, “She is her own person, disregarding her age and all.” 

“She is a spitting image of her Obaa-san, Quirk, eyes, and all.” Tadashi revealed easily, “It’s like my darling Misaki came back to me.”

Jade’s eyes sharpened, “It was a lie, wasn’t it? The story of your divorce from our Obaa-san?”

Tadashi stilled and smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, it was a similar smile to Jade’s own smile when he gets angry. It was all teeth and his eyes shifted into a molten gold colour that burned with unseen fire.

“Well, my dearest didn’t fancy being married to a Yazuka boss who needed to move over to Italy for business with the Mafia. I loved her too much to track her down and force her to be with me, if I did that, she might just run farther from where my spies could track her without attracting the attention of Pro Heroes.

“I couldn’t get close, not even to my own daughter, but that didn’t mean I left them alone completely. If my daughter wanted to get to me, I would have dropped some clues that would let her find me. However, it seems my dearest told my daughter that I died so those preparations were for nothing until Yua was born. 

“Yua, a spitting image of her Obaa-san, not the Kaa-chan she thought she looked like. I knew of her circumstance once my daughter died, however, I couldn’t do anything. If I did, it would send her into the system, which would make my surveillance of her harder. So, when she started searching for relatives, I made sure she would find me. It surprised me that she decided to try hacking, but it was a pleasant surprise all the same.

“Now with her in my care, I don’t need to hold back on that creature who dared hurt my precious granddaughter.” Tadashi smiled as he looked at him with abyss eyes, “Do you kids have any protests?”

Jade laughed, “Fufufu, oh no, do your worst.”

“I am curious, however, are you not afraid that we would tell Nee-chan?” Azul probed.

This time, it was Tadashi’s turn to laugh, “Do you think Yua would believe you? I could play it off, I have experience. Besides, even if she did believe you, would she even care? You know how much she cared about that sperm donor of yours, how she still cares about him enough to keep in contact with one of the police officers who keep her updated on his progress in rehab. Would Yua really leave me because of my profession? Because my job wasn’t of the legal kind?”

Jade had to applaud the old man. He did have more experience than they did in this area, even with the years from their past life included. While Jade would never acknowledge this old man as his Oji-san, he would acknowledge that they share blood. This was the closest the old man was getting from him. 

Not that Azul appreciates it. 

“That may be true, however, she adores us more. If we tell her we don’t feel safe, she would do everything in her power to get us out.”

“She would, just like her Obaa-san. Only moving when someone she loves (you three for Yua, your Kaa-chan for my beloved) is in danger.” Tadashi chuckled before making eye contact with the both of them, “However, would leaving make you happy?”

“Oya, isn’t this interesting?” Jade exclaimed, tilting his head in faux innocence, “What do you mean?”

“You three are monsters. No doubt about it. Calculating, cunning, ambitious little monsters who would do anything to reach their goals. Would any of you be able to live in this thrice-damned Hero-centric society as normal people?” Tadashi asked.

Azul glared at Tadashi. Jade loves being near Azul, it was always so entertaining to watch when Azul puts others in their place but it was also delightful when Azul was the one who gets pushed into the corner.

Azul took a deep breath, relaxed, and remet Tadashi’s eyes, “While I’m sure it would be a challenge, we were doing just fine so I doubt it would be much of a problem to keep it up. As for living in society as normal people, we never planned to do that. As you said, we are calculating, cunning, and ambitious, so why would we wish to match the debris that floats around us?”

Tadashi barks out a laugh. It was loud and sharp, but somehow, Jade felt like they passed some kind of test.

“I do not like you, however, I don’t dislike you either.” Tadashi stated as his form shifted into one that seemed more lazy but still attentive.

“I assume you did this for a reason?” Jade asked.

Tadashi smirked, “You catch on quick. So, I’ll get right to it: I need an heir, someone to lead my group into the future, what do you say?”

This caught Azul’s attention. Jade could see the familiar gears turning rapidly in his head like they always do when Azul finds another possible business venture or opportunity to grow their business. 

It happened in an instant. Jade moved ever so slightly to guard Azul’s back while Azul swiftly shifts from attack mode into business mode, two very familiar actions that were ingrained into their very soul. Literally in their case. 

“Do you not already have an heir?” Azul asked, “I would imagine that a Yakuza boss wouldn’t just up and leave without putting someone in charge that you could trust enough to become boss should you meet an unfortunate end.”

“My right hand is currently taking care of things right now. I do go to clubs, you know? So much work to be done during those four hours.”

“Yes. Settling scores, filling out paperwork so you don’t forget in old age, and cleaning out the vermins that might make nests in the change rooms, I bet.” Azul nodded with a placating smile.

“Your bet is correct.” Tadashi matched Azul’s smile, “More and more vermin are trying to make a home here. So annoying but, what can I do in my old age? I’m not as agile as I used to be.”

“Fufufu, you aren’t actually half-blind or half-deaf are you, Oji-san?” Jade asked.

Tadashi has long since dropped the crabby, rough but loving act he puts on in front of Nee-chan. Even those minuscule actions and mannerisms that would indicate a loss of vision or hearing were gone. In front of him and Azul was a confident, albeit old, man who knew what he wanted and how he would get it.

Tadashi smiled and that was all they needed to know.

“Well, I would be a horrible grandson if I didn’t help carry the family business.” Azul declared with a flourish, “However, you have yet to tell us what you want from us, should we agree.”

“Nothing much. Just the continued survival of the group. It’s been around since long before quirks. Sentimental, you know?” Tadashi commented airly, “We were in trouble because of government cuts along with the rise in Pro Heroes, you know, but we survive. However, I don’t just want us to survive, I want us to thrive. I got the group stable enough but I need an heir to make it thrive.”

“And thrive it will.” Azul nodded, “Can I see the paperwork of the group? I need to know where we stand so I can make plans.”

“Perfect. I knew you would agree. Now, it goes without saying that Yua-”

“Would not know of this. Naturally.” Jade finished.

Jade spent the next hour watching Azul and Tadashi hash stuff out and talk about the general activities of the Shinkai Group. They created a plan for the three of them to visit the group with Tadashi on the day Yua has to go to her audition for the voice acting thing she picked out earlier that day,

Jade laughed internally. As soon as Tadashi dies, Azul was going to change the name from Shinkai (which, amusingly enough means deep-sea) to Octavinelle, and the activities of the group would change as well. Sure, he would keep some things but soon, the entire group would change into something that would satisfy Azul. 

They would wait until Tadashi dies before they do any big changes, of course. 

They were merciful, after all. No need to make the old man upset by tearing down his life’s work.

The Benevolent Sea Witch would be so pleased by the showing of her virtues by them, the students of her dorm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

They took a heavily armed and protected car disguised as a regular, everyday cab to the studio where Nee-chan was going to do her auditions. It was a minor role, the sick little sister of the secondary antagonist in the back story, and then as the ghost of that little sister when she greats the secondary antagonist in death. Not a very important role in the grand scheme of things but Nee-chan insisted that it was the experience that mattered and bigger roles will come if this was a success. 

Jade didn’t know much about the acting department of the entertainment industry, that was much more Vil’s cup of tea, however, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t learn. He remembers Vil’s words of wisdom when he had talked about his work, Jade doesn’t know if a lot differs between acting in person and voice acting but he passed along everything he could remember to Nee-chan. He got his head patted for his efforts and an extra cookie for dessert so it was worth it.

The head patting was slightly demeaning and he wasn’t that big on desserts but the look on Azul’s and Floyd’s faces while he ate his extra cookie was better than any reward the world could give him. 

“Take care of Oji-san, you three, and don’t cause too much trouble for him and his friends. They probably aren’t as young as they used to be.” Nee-chan teased Tadashi as she patted their heads as a farewell, “I still can’t believe you want to go to a tennis club, I’m happy though since you three are finally meeting new people on your own but you should have told me you liked tennis. I would have brought you guys to the tennis courts instead of the parks to practice.”

“We don’t like tennis.” Azul protested, “We just wanted to give it a shot because Oji-san asked us to. We don’t want interaction. Please let us stay home, interacting with those idiots in the parks grate on my intelligence. I can feel myself growing more and more moronic the longer you make us stay there.”

Nee-chan laughed, “No can do Azz-kun. Anyway, since I don’t know when I’m going to go home, don’t wait for me. I’ll make my way home on my own.”

“No. You’re going to call home as soon as you’re done using the studio’s front desk’s phone and I’ll call a cab for you. Shinji from the cab center owes me a little something so it would be faster than calling one yourself.” Tadashi ordered, “I don’t want you accidentally running into a villain on your way home and Shinji would make sure your driver would avoid all the Danger Marked roads.”

“Yes, yes, of course, Oji-san.” Nee-chan nodded.

While Nee-chan can only see an overprotective grandfather trying to keep the last of his family safe from the thing that ruined his contact with his wife and kid, Jade could see that it was just a person letting his pet bird out of its cage and into a conservatory. Still a cage but it was large enough that the bird wouldn’t notice. Poor, poor Nee-chan. Well, it wasn’t like they were going to treat her differently but still. Poor Nee-chan.

“See you.” Nee-chan waved.

They waited until Nee-chan had entered the studio for a few minutes before they started moving again. At first, they made their way to the tennis club but then they took a different path and went to the nicer parts of town. 

“What a beautiful part of town. Simply the definition of peace and beauty.” Jade praised as he looked out the window.

“It’s hiding something rotten under all that glitz and glam.” Floyd snickered, “Just like how those fat anemones attach themselves with so much pretty-looking coral to hide how venomous they really are.”

“Naturally. Nothing this normal is ever normal. There hasn’t even been a single Villain Attack since we got here, someone is pulling the strings.” Azul scoffed before side-eyeing Tadashi, “Aren’t I right, grandfather?”

“Ha. You would be right, grandson.” Tadashi nodded, “Everything in this city, and the prefectures that surround it belong to the Shinkai Group. We have some dealings and smaller territory outside of that but we’ll discuss that later.”

“At length, I hope.” Azul injected, “I would like to know my own territory, after all.”

“Of course.”

Jade watched as the people and cars moved about, watching the Pro Heroes do their patrols around the city as they drive by.

“How amusing.” Jade said, “They call themselves heroes, warriors of justice, and yet they can’t even sense the filth that has infested the city long before they were born. Not even when we drive past them.”

“Rather than filth, I would call it the darker side of society.” Tadashi corrected, “Filth is reserved for Villains who go about boasting about their so-called evil deeds. Like how snatching someone’s purse is the Epitome of Evil.”

Floyd snickered, “You have to be joking, no way!”

“I assure you, I’m not.” 

Jade watched as Floyd started laughing, throwing himself onto his and Azul’s lap. As Floyd laughed in their laps, Azul pushed Floyd off onto the car floor and continued talking.

“The intelligence, or rather the lack of intelligence, surprises me. How is society even still functioning?” Azul asked in disgust.

Just outside their window, while they waited for the traffic lights to change, they saw a little boy crying about his balloon that floated into the branches of a tree. None of the adults, all tall enough to get the balloon if they simply jumped, did anything. Instead, they just walked on, not even stopping to glance at the crying child. One of the patrolling Pro Heroes came and grabbed the balloon and handed it to the child.

“Thank you, mister!”

“Haha, you’re welcome little man, just doing what a hero should do!”

“Wow!”

“What a nice guy!”

“Such a hero!”

Jade’s ever-present smile twitched ever so slightly at this scene. It was just a balloon in a tree that anyone could have gotten. Not only did those adults ignore the child, not even stopping to make sure the balloon was the only thing he was crying about, but they were also praising the Pro Hero to high heaven like he did some grand feat when all he did was be a decent human being and help the child.

“Exhibit A.” Azul said dryly, pointing to the clapping crowd with a blank face, “This society has brainwashed the people into thinking that they don’t need to do anything for anyone except themselves because there would also be a hero to help the person who was asking for help. That they don’t even need to bother to be concerned. Not only that, the Pro Heroes are praised for being decent people and their egos are inflated. This society is a sinking ship filled with idiots and sheep to the slaughter.”

Jade knew why Azul was so disgusted. At Night Raven College, they were all encouraged to think and strive for new heights. It didn’t matter if those heights were purely academic, purely physical, or a beautiful blend of both, they were always encouraged to keep moving, keep changing, keep growing, and keep learning. To never accept things as set in stone and take what they want.

To not follow the written path and instead forge their own because they needed to think for themselves. 

This society was the embodiment of everything they were taught never to become, a group of mindless followers.

Tadashi seemed to have aged, “It wasn’t always like this. Things used to be different, however, there’s nothing left. This society is doomed, but, we can always carve out a small pocket that would survive no matter what.”

Jade could see the wheels turning in Azul’s head and suppressed a shiver as Floyd’s grin grew wider. Floyd could probably feel it. Azul was planning something big and it was going to turn this messed up, dying, easily malleable society on its head. He may even be planning on taking it over.

Jade couldn’t wait!

After all, it was the benevolent thing to do, really. They were helping Japan turn into a better version of itself. Really, the people should be thanking them.

Chapter Text

The car drove through the town until they entered an underground parking. The car went down to the lowest floor, then the driver pressed a button which opened one of the walls, revealing an underground tunnel. The car entered the tunnel and kept driving for a little longer. When the car stopped, they were still in the tunnel. Tadashi lead the way for the three little monsters that were parading around in his grandsons’ skins. If they were normal, perhaps he would have liked them. 

Not as much as his cute granddaughter who looked so much like his beloved but he would have liked them enough.

However, they weren’t. They were too strange, there was something vile and unnatural underneath their carefully put-together image. Even Floyd, the one who’s most open with his emotions, has something that reeked of danger beneath that seemingly spontaneous actions. Tadashi doubts that mental illness is the only reason for Floyd’s general disposition and disregard for the world on principle.

“Welcome to one of the Shinkai Group’s hideouts.” Tadashi declared as they emerged from the tunnel into an enclosed traditional compound.

“It looks boring. Is there anything to do?” Floyd complained.

At least Tadashi could confidently say that Floyd wouldn’t be conspiring against him in any way, not that the other two would because they have committed to taking over the family business but it was the thought that counted. It also reassured him that, Floyd would never be told any truly confidential information.

“All in due time.” Tadashi reassured before motioning with his finger. 

Jiro walked towards them from his position. Once he got close, he bowed and held that position until Tadashi gestured for him to stand back up. It is always nice to have subordinates who know what to do.

However, he had a sneaking feeling that no matter how professional his heirs were going to project their image, they would default to some kind of world-ending madness. Well, as long as the group survives, it is none of Tadashi’s problem. He could only hope that he’d be long dead and in the pure lands with his beloved when that happens and that his dear granddaughter would stay oblivious to the chaos.

Here’s to the hope that this won’t be a horrible decision that would end with the world burning in flames.

Or drowning under a pile of blackmail. Drowning in blackmail seems like more of these monsters’ speed than fire.

“This is Jiro, he will show you around the compound and be your mentor in the ways of your everyday yakuza member. He also works part-time as a janitor at your new school so if you ever need anything while at school, just find him.” Tadashi motioned, “Now, I need to work on some paperwork. In two hours, Jiro will bring you to the dining room where we’ll eat lunch before going to the tennis court to play for an hour since we don’t want to be caught lying, and then we will return home.”

“Paperwork?” Azul asked, his eyes sharp and pointed.

Tadashi smirked inwardly. Yes, this was the kind of person he would be confident in leaving his group to. While the boy still needs some work in handling Yakuza Business and they need to instill some kind of loyalty to the group, Tadashi could see a bright future. Maybe these three would be able to bring the Shinkai group back to its state during its heyday, where they ruled a quarter of Japan.

“Yes. Paperwork. A boss’ job is never over, after all.” Tadashi gave them a smile before making his way to his office. 

Once inside his office, he picked up a folder filled with the paperwork that his right hand prepared beforehand and opened the second door. He left his office and walked down the hall to the room where his people were monitoring the security cameras of the studio his dearest granddaughter was in.

“What’s the situation?” Tadashi asked seriously.

One of his men spoke up, “The Princess has successfully passed the first round of auditions and moved on to the second round.”

“I see, of course, there was no doubting her talent.” Tadashi said, allowing a soft smile on his face, “Just like her Obaa-san, it seems my beloved’s talent for acting has also been passed down to her. The only thing that hasn’t been passed down was probably my beloved’s explosive temper and sharp tongue!”

“So far, none of the other candidates have shown any hostility above general snappiness caused by nerves.” The man continued, “The Princess has even made a friend in an orphan named Takahashi Hina - she belongs to one of our money-laundering orphanages - who was auditioning for a similar role.”

“How long has the girl been an orphan?”

“Since she was two years old, both parents died in a Villain Attack and she has no relatives who could raise her.”

“Not someone of unknown origins, then.” Tadashi nodded to himself, “A safe person. So, which orphanage is the girl from?”

“Coral Orphanage, boss.”

“What are the conditions of the orphanage?”

“Not the worst but it could be better.”

“Hmm…” Tadashi closed his eyes, “Should the friendship last for another year, the orphanage will get a very generous donation that will help improve the conditions of the orphanage. However, should the friendship grow sour, the orphanage will be forced to go through some hard times before ultimately not being able to stay in working conditions and be shut down.”

“And should the friendship just fade out naturally?”

“Then the donations would simply stop and the orphanage would just go back to how it was before.”

“Understood, boss.”

“What is the girl’s quirk?”

Tadashi waited as another member tossed the man a folder (presumably with a more detailed profile on the girl) from her spot across the room, “A minor quirk that can promote fruits and vegetables to grow a bit faster. She uses it daily at the orphanage to help grow food in their garden to lower expenses.”

“No need for protective gears either. However, she’s not much of a protector either. If only she had a more useful quirk, like a quirk that could produce shields, we could have trained her into the Princess’ personal guard.” Tadashi sighed at the wasted opportunity. 

Tadashi doesn’t agree with the general notion that quirks are everything, Tadashi thinks of quirks more as tools than anything else, however, that doesn’t mean that Tadashi doesn’t value certain quirks over others. In certain situations, certain quirks are worth a lot more than others. A minor quirk that produces water would naturally be pushed aside for a quirk like Endeavor’s, however, if they were stranded in the desert, the minor water quirk would be a godsent while Endeavor’s would just result in a swifter death.

While training the girl could still be trained to be a personal guard, it would take longer and more resources. Resources that Tadashi was unwilling to use for a girl that may or may not stick around. 

“If I may, boss.” One of the other members spoke up.

“Proceed.”

“One of the call girls we have just picked up another girl. She came from a very abusive family who just got arrested for villain activity. They were planning on raising the girl into another call girl but her quirk, which gives her a heightened sense of her surroundings might help with defending the Princess.”

Tadashi closed his eyes. A quirk that heightened her sense of her surroundings might seem useless in today’s society that praises grandiose quirks and ridicules the less flashy ones but it was very useful. Properly training that quirk would protect the user from bullets, incoming attacks, hostile people, and many more.

“Name?”

“Kana, no last name. Currently, she is fifteen years old but she will be turning sixteen later in the year.”

“Train her. We’ll introduce them… when Yua moves to Junior High. Let’s hope the girl can be ready by then. Her cover will be… her manager? Do voice actors have managers like normal actors?”

“Yes, and it will be no problem. She has already sworn loyalty and should be ready by then. We will start crafting her identity.”

“Good.”

“Sir, the Princess has passed the second round of auditions.”

Tadashi nodded, “Call me when she passes the audition. We should get our fingers into the entertainment industry more. It would be harder to bribe the judges if need be if we don’t have a foot-hold.”

“Doubt the Princess would like that…” One of the members muttered under their breath, he was probably talking to himself.

“She wouldn’t.” Tadashi agreed, causing the member to jump in surprise, “We won’t bribe anyone into choosing her every time, I doubt she needs it. However, it doesn’t mean that other people wouldn’t bribe the judges as well. At most, we would simply be bribing them out of their bribe.”

He was probably acting too confident but if Yua had even a sliver of his beloved’s acting talent then he wouldn’t need to bribe the judges. If it wasn’t for his beloved’s anxiety that all the roles she has gotten were due to his influence then her name would have been a household name. 

Tadashi hopes that Yua could do what his beloved couldn’t do, so his beloved could live vicariously through her.

Tadashi pulled out a chair and started watching the auditions as he did the paperwork he brought with him. Tadashi was feeling nostalgic since he did the same when his beloved did auditions.

Sadly, time passes quickly when you’re enjoying yourself and it was time for him to meet up with his heirs to eat lunch. Those no-good, uncute, manipulative, monsters for brats in human skin.

Tadashi left the room and made his way to his office, he needed to file his paperwork properly since he didn’t want to worry about backlogs due to his own incompetence. Once everything was in order, he made his way to the dining room where servants were already preparing a spread. It was a mostly traditional spread with some dishes that Yua had told him were the boys’ favourites. 

He may not care much for them but he did want to get along as boss and heir with the kids so good food was a must.

Soon the boys (and a very dishevelled Jiro who looked haunted, Tadashi needed to get the story from him at a later date) entered the room and took their places in front of him. They sat in a single file line with Azul in the center, Jade to the right, and Floyd to the left. Presumably, they have decided that Azul would be the boss while Jade and Floyd would be the right and left hands respectively.

Well, so long as they have decided who would be the boss between the three, it was none of Tadashi’s business. 

“How do you like the compound? Were you able to understand everything that Jiro explained and showed you today?”

“Still boring. Can’t we do something more fun? The stupid plankton stopped me from doing anything more fun.” Floyd pouted before devouring his meal

“It was adequate.” Jade said, still smiling as he moved to get more food onto his plate and another glass of juice.

Tadashi does wonder how he already finished his food. It has barely been three minutes since he sat down to eat.

Azul didn’t even give his response. The uncute brat.

As Tadashi filled the silence was trivial conversation, he sighed internally. There was still time to instill respect and manners into them. That was less important than loyalty to the group but it was up there on the To-Do List.

After they finished their meal, they made their way back to the car disguised as a cab and went to the tennis courts. As they drove there, Tadashi got into his weak, elderly, everyday grandfather persona. Yua called while they were on the road and they pretended that they were taking a break to eat. As soon as she hung up, Tadashi called Shinji to send a car. After a while, they reached the tennis court. They entered the changing room, changed into sportswear, rented four tennis racquets, and picked out an open court. 

“Do you brats know how to play?” Tadashi asked roughly, looking at the kids with his supposed good eye.

“We know the rules.” Azul said.

“Which should be enough.” Jade continued.

“Let’s just play!” Floyd cheered.

“You three against me?” Tadashi asked.

“Why not? It would be interesting.”

“Start already!”

Tadashi bounced the tennis ball up and down, eyeing the three as they got into position. Azul was on the right of the central service line, Floyd was on the left of it, and Jade was behind the service line. Tadashi walked backward until he was behind the service line, still bouncing the tennis ball. Taking a breath, Tadashi threw the ball up into the sky and smacked it toward the brats.

The ball hit the floor in front of Azul before it bounced to Floyd who managed to hit it back before it flew out of bounds.

Game on, brats.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

After about an hour of playing, with his experience trumping the brats’ youth, they got back to the car and got driven home. The boys gave as good as they got and their teamwork was impeccable but they weren’t familiar enough with the game to win. They did have excellent hand-eye coordination that would help them with using guns, so Tadashi noted getting them lessons on gun handling as the first weapon for them to master. Guns are a classic weapon for the underworld, after all.

By the time they got home, Yua was already there. She was working on homework since she and the brats transferred schools halfway through the school year, they had a lot of homework to get through and more things to learn since their new Junior High school was a bit more advanced.

“Welcome back!” Yua exclaimed, waving at them with a smile on her face, “How was the tennis club?”

“Horrible.”

“We never want to go again.”

“Ne, ne, what’s for snack?”

“Haha, Azul, Jade, don’t lie. And Floyd, here, you can have some of my grapes.”

“We weren’t lying, Nee-chan. We didn’t win, so it was horrible.”

“We were stuck under the hot sun so we never want to go again.”

“Thanks, Nee-chan!”

Tadashi felt like he would get whiplash if he kept watching these monsters disguised as his grandsons. With him, they were competent mini-adults. They made him feel like he needed to stay on guard like he normally would during… negotiations. However, the second they are in hearing range of his darling granddaughter, they turn into spoiled, albeit very intelligent, normal children.

It was frightening how quickly they could change between the two personas and how they act in front of his innocent granddaughter.

A granddaughter that probably has no idea of their true nature.

Well, she didn’t know his true nature either, so he couldn’t really talk. However, even he didn’t switch as fast as they did.

“-and you, Oji-san?” Yua asked, turning her attention to him, “Did you have fun at the tennis courts today?”

Tadashi smiled, “I had an okay time. The brats weren’t much of a challenge so I wouldn’t call it fun. Seriously, they have numbers on their side, and they still lost to a man already halfway in the grave.”

“Don’t say that, Oji-san. They’re only kids.” Yua scolded lightly with a quiet laugh.

If Yua had his beloved’s explosive temper and sharp tongue, Tadashi would think that his beloved has been reborn, and returned from beyond the grave to be with him once again. He wonders if Yua’s more quiet personality and honey tongue came from experience rather than disposition. Staying with her sperm donor when he was like that would change her so that she could survive. 

Another reason to remove that man permanently. Sadly, Yua still wanted to see that insect redeem himself and successfully go through rehabilitation and return to being a functioning member of society. Luckily, there is nothing stopping fate from coincidentally putting a villain attack that may cause mass death near the home of the insect when he gets released back into society.

Tadashi has enough pull in the area that fate would be more than happy to help him exact his revenge.

However, the insect has about two months to live, which is a long time from now so Tadashi pushed it to the back of his mind. It was time to live in the here and now, especially since he has his granddaughter to entertain.

“So how were the auditions, Yua?” Tadashi asked after the monsters settled down enough for him to talk.

Yua beamed at him, “I got the part!”

“That’s wonderful!” Tadashi clapped, it was to be expected and he already knew but there was something special about hearing the results in person.

“Congratulations, Nee-chan.”

“Are ya gonna buy us a cake to celebrate? I want some cake!”

“Thank you, and sure, Flo-kun, I can buy us some cake.”

“What did they make you do?” Tadashi asked, trying to get back into the conversation, he knew from experience that the triplet devils would only monopolize Yua’s attention if he didn’t bud in.

At his question, Yua turned her attention back to him, to his petty satisfaction and the devils’ displeasure.

“Well, first, they made us read outlines when the character was still healthy. It was the easiest since all we had to do was make our voices higher. Then, we waited for a minute for the judges to choose. Half of us were eliminated. Then, in the second round, we read out the lines when the character was sick. There were only five of us left over after the second round. In the final round, we had to read out the lines of when the character was sick and crying, which was the hardest.”

“Yeah, yeah, the hardest and stuff, you passed and that’s all that matters. Now, let’s eat cake!” Floyd interrupted.

“Haha, yes, yes.” Yua nodded before turning to Tadashi, “Oji-san, I’m going to go to the cake shop two streets from here, okay?”

“Of course.” Tadashi nodded.

It would take Yua at least two hours to get back, so Tadashi had plenty of time to instill some form of respect into the three brats. However, judging by the glints in their eyes, they know what he’s planning.

Monsters. All three of them.

Chapter Text

Azul looked out the window of the classroom he was in. It’s been three years since they moved into the home of their Oji-san who was also a Yakuza boss. The boss of a group that they were now heirs to, Azul mused as he hid a smirk. He was dealt a decent hand in this life, best not to waste it.

With a foothold in the underworld already, Azul knows he could do many things. Even change this society if he wanted. And he very much wanted because this… this utterly pitiful society went against everything he stood for. Azul worked really, really hard to get to where he got in his first life, pushing and scheming and pushing some more until he almost reached his goal. However, the people in this society don’t even try to save themselves from easy situations (you just needed to run down the fire escape; you didn't need to wait for heroes to arrive!), it was utterly frustrating and annoying.

“Listen up, class!” The sad excuse for a teacher exclaimed, clapping their hands together to get the attention of the unruly class, “For our literature class, we will be commencing a project. I will give you all three minutes to get into groups of two or three before I start explaining the assignment.”

The class whirled to life around him, jumping at the chance to partner up with their friends. Azul sighed. Unfortunately, he, Jade, and Floyd were all put in separate classes after it was noted that they only interacted with each other and they seem to enable each other to act out when bored. 

I t wasn’t their fault that they didn’t want to interact with idiotic, hero-brainwashed brats who can’t think for themselves. Granted, Azul would, magnanimously, acknowledge that human children have to develop further to truly think for themselves. However, Azul has also seen adults who were just as idiotic and hero-obsessed so Azul wasn’t holding his breath.

As for enabling each, well, they were bored. It wasn’t their fault the curriculum wasn’t challenging them. If they wanted to get them to study, they should have let them skip grades. Well, Floyd was Floyd but he was a genius so he was in a category all on his own and, as his brothers, they were required to spoil him a bit.

Not that Azul spoiled Floyd. It was all Jade and Nee-chan. Azul was above such things. Obviously.

Azul sighed again as he looked around the room. He didn’t even want to be in a group so he might as well wait until all the groups were chosen and ask the teacher if he could work on his own. It was a yes fifty percent of the time so it was a good enough gamble for Azul to place his bets on.

“Okay! Does everyone have a group?” The teacher asked.

Azul raised his hand, catching the teacher’s attention.

“Again, Aikawa-kun?” The teacher asked rhetorically, “Alright, which group among the pairs is willing to get a third member?”

“Depends on what’s the project!” Someone yelled, to which everyone else voiced their agreement.

Azul really, really felt loved at this moment. Truly. 

The teacher smiled, “Why?”

Azul just waited, this was something that happened almost like a routine. The teacher doesn’t even need to ask why but they do it anyway, every time without fail. Azul doesn’t know why they do it since it was redundant but Azul would never understand the minds of brain-washed simpletons. 

“Because he’s smart and if we need a smart person, we would fight for him!”

“Because he’s bad with emotions so if we need to do something creative, we wouldn’t want him!”

“Now, now, don’t be rude.” The teacher laughed, “Okay, so the project would be a presentation about your favourite place. You need to research this place and give a five-minute presentation to the class.”

“We’ll take him!”

“Aikawa-kun is great at research and I need the grade so hands off!”

And the simpletons were at it again. Azul liked that he was being fought over, it does wonders to his ego, but he’d much rather have a choice of which group to be in because he didn’t want to be stuck with whoever yelled the loudest.

“Okay! Quiet! Aikawa-kun will be with Ito-kun and Saito-kun.” The teacher declared.

This teacher didn’t even ask which group he wanted to be in. He didn’t expect much but Azul wanted to be asked a rhetorical ‘okay?’ so he would at least get the illusion that he had a choice in the matter. Even Headmaster Crowley would have been appalled by this standard of teaching and the Headmaster rarely even cared about anything other than the school’s reputation, money (bribes and otherwise), and his own ego.

Oh how this world lowered his standards.

“Okay! Everyone, get into your groups and start brainstorming! You have three weeks to work on this so I know you can all do amazing work!”

“Please, spare me from your fake cheer,” Azul muttered under his breath as he walked over to where his teammates were sitting.

Ito Haruto and Saito Asahi were best friends and the school's star Quick basketball and Quickless soccer players, respectively. Ito’s minor levitating quirk helps with jumping high enough to slam dunk the basketball into the basket. While Saito’s minor quirk that causes light to emanate from his skin was useless in soccer, he had skill.

Based on the information he gathered, Ito wanted to go into the Quick Basketball Leagues while Asahi wanted to go into the Quirkless Soccer Leagues.

With some professions like the Quirk Athletic Leagues, and others that allow their workers to use their quirks so long as they get a license to do so, Azul wonders why people are still being fed the drivel that being a Pro Hero was the only way you could use your quick freely. If they publicized the information, there would be more useful workers and less incompetent and less passionate Pro Heros who only chose to go into that line of work so they would be able to legally use their quirks. 

Pro Heros are just glamorized Civil Servants who act like celebrities.

That being said, because Ito and Saito weren’t as Hero Obsessed as the rest of them, it made them somewhat tolerable.

“Ito-san, Saito-san.” Azul greeted them as he sat down.

“Yo, Azul-san! Just call me Haruto!” Ito said cheerily.

“And call me Asahi.” Saito added.

“Of course.” Azul nodded with his Customer Smile TM , “So, what location do you want to choose?”

“Between Haruto-kun and I, we would like to do something sports-related, is that okay with you?” Saito asked.

“Yes, that’s fine. I don’t have a preference.” Azul nodded, “So, do you have a specific place in mind or will we need to look around?”

“To be honest, I was thinking that we could walk around after school tomorrow and see where our feet take us.” Ito laughed, scratching the back of his head, “Would that work for you guys, or was that too random?”

“I would be okay with that.” Saito nodded.

“It would be fine for me as well, however, my brothers would probably want to come, is that alright?” Azul asked.

Azul revealed as he watched Ito and Saito pale a bit. Understandable, Floyd joined the basketball club again and has terrorized it ever since, well, when he's in the mood to play. Then… there was Jade. The horror stories (even if they were probably true) about him were really getting out of control.

They weren’t exaggerations, more like an understatement, but Azul wasn’t going to actively make Floyd’s reputation worse. Well, unless it benefits him but he didn’t see any of those benefits yet.

“Um…” Ito took a moment to compose himself before giving Azul a shaky but determined smile, “Sure! The more the merrier!”

Saito added his two senses, “Just keep them from squeezing us. I get that they have instincts of Morey Eels and they squeeze their prey and all that but we would like to not feel like their prey.”

“I do not control those two terrors and you cannot hold me accountable for their actions. The only one they even remotely listen to is our Nee-chan, not me.” Azul spat out as quickly as he could.

Azul refuses to be held responsible for anything those two did. Not when there was someone else who could take that… honour. Azul already suffered for the majority of his last life being the one to rein those two in, he was not going to again. Besides, Nee-chan can handle it just fine.

“Then let her come with us!” Ito exclaimed.

Azul really didn’t want his sister to meet anyone in his school. Thankfully, even if he wanted to, it was impossible.

“Can’t. She’s studying for entrance exams for university.” 

Saito’s eyes widened, “That means you guys are…”

“Like seven years apart!” Ito exclaimed, always the more mathematically inclined between the two, "No wonder they listen to her! But wait... why don't they listen to the teachers?"

“No, only four. She skipped grades.” Azul corrected feeling a hint of pride but making sure not to let it show. He ignored Ito's question.

“Is your family full of geniuses or something?” Saito muttered under his breath but they could still hear him, “Seriously, you guys have transformation quirks that turn you into sea creatures, not intelligence quirks. Think about us simple-minded common folk. Life really isn’t fair.”

“Just work harder, it’s not that hard,” Azul said mercilessly.

“Yeah, that argument kind of falls apart when you see Floyd-san sleeping in every class if he wasn’t skipping and still gets perfect scores on every test.” Saito said flatly, “That is not hard work.”

“Floyd is a genius.”

“You say that like it explains something.”

“It does, you are just too incompetent to understand.”

“Using big words that we barely understand is just rubbing salt in our wounds.” Ito exclaimed, “Anyway, back on topic, so tomorrow after school?”

“Yes.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“Great! If there’s any place specific you want, tell the rest of the group tomorrow.”

Azul supposed there could be worse groups to be with. However, he would still much rather work alone. If he did, he could have just chosen the marketing center and been done with it.

He did, after all, research a lot to pull off his plan tonight. He needed to show off his skills as heir after all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Azul whipped away the imaginary dirt on his outfit as he stood in front of a full-length mirror in the Shinkai Group Hideout. It was an expensive suit with a black tie and a black fedora with a greyish-purple band on his head. It was almost like his old outfit, the only real difference is the colour.

Nee-chan was in a hotel a city over with her manager/personal guard, staying there under the pretense of a new role she could get. It was a real role but it was specifically scouted so Nee-chan wouldn’t be home for this night. 

“Are you ready, Azul?” Jade asked, slipping into the room with Floyd, both of them were also dressed up for the occasion, “You have half an hour left to prepare.”

“Hurry up! This is boring!” Floyd complained before grinning, “I can’t wait for them to mess up so I can squeeze them.”

“Of course I’m ready, when was I ever not?” Azul asked rhetorically.

“Oh! I know! When you went crazy back in our second year! And when you were all cute and round and-”

“Shut. Up. Floyd.” Azul ordered with grated teeth, “Remember, you signed an NDA to not speak of it. Ever.”

“But Azul~! That was a lifetime ago, literally! There was nothing in that form thingy that said it transferred over to your next life! Haha! So I can talk about it whenever I want!” Floyd cheered.

Azul froze, he’d been had!

“Why, Floyd!” Jade exclaimed gleefully, “I didn’t think about that! You’re right, there wasn’t!”

“Praise me more!”

Azul could not allow this to continue. He has painstakingly made it so that those two devil twins wouldn’t reveal his secrets, stay in line, and, most importantly, not cause him any trouble. However, because of his lack of foresight (though, how he was supposed to foresee this Azul didn’t know), all of that work is wasted. He should have added a line about lasting for all eternity instead of just their lives.

“Jade! Floyd!” Azul yelled manically as he reached out his hand toward them, “Let’s make a deal!”

Azul had memorized that damn contract like his life depended on it (well, his reputation depended on it at the time so Azul supposed it was a close enough approximation) so it was easy to rewrite the damned thing. The hard part was getting the two devils to sign it. The last time around, Azul felt as if he needed to sell his soul and life in order to get them to sign but now? Azul knew he was going into a war.

He was willing to bet that fighting Overblots alone would have been much easier than doing this.

For the next twenty minutes, which felt like an eternity to Azul, he bargained, bantered, fought, argued, pleaded, begged, negotiated, threatened, blackmailed, bribed, and yelled. Azul felt like he aged fifty years in those few minutes when Jade and Floyd finally signed their names on the papers.

“Finally.” Azul sighed.

“Oh, dear! I think I made a mistake!” Jade exclaimed in fake shock.

The hairs on Azul’s skin stood up as an ominous feeling washed over him, “What mistake did you make?”

“I think I signed my name as ‘Jade Leech’ instead of ‘Jade Aikawa’ like I was supposed to, do forgive me, Azul.” Jade smiled.

“Oh, me too! Sorry, Azul~!” Floyd added.

Azul grated his teeth, “You damnable twins!”

“Azul!” Jade exclaimed in fake hurt, “You’re our triplet in this life!”

“And it’s a fact I regret and aim to forget every day of this accursed life!” Azul snapped as he rewrote the contract, “There, now do it properly or else!”

“Or else what?” Floyd asked, eyes shining.

Azul was about to retort when he remembered all the other times he fell into this specific rabbit hole.

“I refuse to get swept up in your pace again! Just sign the damn thing!” Azul yelled, heaving with anger.

“Oya, oya, Azul, getting so angry really isn’t good for your blood pressure,” Jade said in fake concern as he signed his name properly this time.

“You might break a blood vessel, ya know?” Floyd added as he took out a glittery black pen from his coat.

“And whose fault would it be?” Azul asked as he pocketed the new contracts.

“Who indeed?” Jade asked as he playfully tilted his head.

“Enough!” Azul yelled, “We have five minutes to prepare so stop with the chatter and go over the game plan.”

Jade got serious while Floyd left to the windows now that his attention moved on to something else. Normally, Azul would be worried but so long as Floyd wasn’t working with Jade to infuriate him for the next while then Azul couldn’t bring himself to care. Even if Floyd causes the end of the world, Azul wouldn’t move a muscle outside of saving himself. While Azul talked with Jade, Azul fixed his ruffled suit, straightened out his tie, placed his fedora back onto his head, and used magic to make everything look pristine.

“Now, you two remember, we are going to make a Deal with all those fools so discretion is key.” Azul reminded them as he pushed open the door and entered the hallway.

Right before they started walking, Azul cast a silencing spell (a spell that branches out from Wind Spells) to silence their conversation and an illusion spell (a spell that branches out from Water Spells) to make it seem like they weren’t talking at all. The perfect cover to discuss business.

“Fufufu, they won’t know what hit them.”

“When we’re done with them, that means the southeast side of Japan would be ours!”

Azul smirked, “Yes, first the southeast side, then south Japan, then all of Japan, then all of Asia, and after that, the entire world. The underworld will fall to me, and then the rest of society will follow.”

“Control the dark parts of the world and you control those at the top since they always have dealings that they don’t want to come to light.” Jade laughed.

“And when you control the top, you control everything.” Floyd concluded during his rare moment of seriousness before he turned back to Floyd-normal, “It’s going to be so much fun! The world is gonna be our playground!”

“It will be. And everyone will be crushed under my heel.” Azul said as his face twisted into an unfriendly smile, “Those bumbling fools are mostly worthless and irritating, but they would be less so when I can put them to work for my own purposes. An annoying gear can be annoying so long as it’s useful.”

“As expected of Azul, you never stop.” Jade smiled, “Things are going to get interesting.”

“Finally! We’ve been waiting for years, Azul! You’re so slow!”

In a matter of moments, the triplets stood in front of a door that would lead them to the meeting room. If they were normal ten-year-old children then they would have been frightened beyond words due to the malice radiating out of the room, but they weren’t. To Azul, the door in front of him feels just like the doors to a classroom in NRC.

There was something dangerous behind them but it was controlled and therefore safe to enter. This isn’t to say that the room in front of them had controlled danger, it was more like weak danger. Enough to register as dangerous to the average person but not enough to pose a threat to them.

If Azul was honest, the danger was that of a butter knife. Enough to make a small cut but not dangerous at all. Though, he wouldn’t say that, no need to infuriate potential clients (read: suckers).

“Well, are you three ready?” Azul asked his two longest companions.

“Of course, Azul.”

“Let’s get this party started!”

Azul smirked, “So, are we going to open the doors as the old man told us to, or should we just use a small Wind Spell?”

“The old man told us to let Floyd and I push the doors open for you but-”

“I don’t feel like it. Next option~!”

“-as you can see, we cannot do that. So, magic it is.” Jade finished.

“As I thought.”

Azul cancelled the two spells he cast earlier, fixed their clothing once again, and used a minor gust of wind to slam open the doors. It was dramatic and made all eyes turn to them so it was perfect.

Chapter Text

Jade walked stealthily through their house. It’s been four years since Azul has been introduced as the heir to the Shinkai Group and he has completely taken over the south side of Japan and was almost done with the entirety of Japan. It was only going so slowly because of his young age and appearance, which Jade has heard Azul curse about endlessly under his breath.

Another downside was that the more competent Azul shows himself to be, the more the old man pushes responsibilities onto Azul. Which, normally wouldn’t be that big of a deal but it meant that the old man was hogging all of Nee-chan’s attention. Azul and Jade needed to get extra creative to keep Floyd in line.

Normally, Jade wouldn’t care for it but, if Floyd messed anything up because he felt like it or didn’t feel like doing something, then all their work would fall apart. Which meant they’d need to work more.

Nee-chan wasn’t dumb. She knew they were doing something in their spare time outside of school work and their clubs. So far, she was being led to believe that they were volunteering at one of the orphanages in the city. The orphanages are practically owned by the Shinkai Group thanks to investments so there was a paper trail if she ever decided to investigate for herself.

Wonderful things, investments are. 

Luckily, this month was the month of the meeting for all of the underground leaders. The meetings are on Saturday of every week. The first meeting is for those in your area, then they select a representative to send over to the second meeting. The second meeting is for those in your country, then they select a representative again. The third meeting is for those in your section of the world, in our case, Asia. The fourth and final meeting is for the representatives of the entire underworld.

Azul, the unfortunate soul, had to go with the old man to all those meetings. Due to Azul’s machinations, they were the only possible candidate to send to the third meeting. Jade wonders if being denied going to the fourth meeting by the Triad bosses of China would light a fire under Azul to work even harder.

No matter, it just meant that, for at least three weeks, Jade and Floyd could monopolize Nee-chan’s time.

“Nee-chan.” Jade greeted as he plopped onto one of the cushions and slipped his legs under the kotatsu, “What’s for breakfast?” 

“Jay-kun!” Nee-chan exclaimed, jumping a bit, “I didn’t sense you! You and your brothers are really getting more and more stealthy. I think I should get you three matching collars with bells on them.”

“If you do that then Jade will find a way to turn the bells silent, he’s terrible like that. Don’t waste your money on him. Use it to spoil me more!” Floyd interrupted, as he stole food from Nee-chan’s plates.

“Are you guys competing to see who could be the better cat?” Nee-chan asked rhetorically, “And don’t talk about your brother like that, Flo-kun, Jay-kun is perfect just the way he is.”

“Yes, Floyd. How could you be so cruel? Boohoo. Boohoo.” Jade fake-cried.

“You should never act, Jade. It’s horrible.” Floyd commented as Nee-chan tried to hide a giggle.

“Now, enough talk, it’s time to eat.” Nee-chan intervened.

“Of course.”

“M’kay~”

“Oh, Floyd, did you take your medicine?” Nee-chan asked as she turned her back to them to face the cutlery drawer. 

“Yes!” Floyd nodded happily.

“Good.”

Jade couldn’t help but shake his head in amusement. Floyd was obviously lying about taking those rocks that humans call pills and Nee-chan knows it. She even caught him flushing his pills down the toilet when Floyd has first prescribed the medication. All she had to say was to make sure no one else found out.

Well, first they had all talked to Nee-chan to convince her that Floyd didn’t need the medicine but after that, she was fine with it. It wasn’t hard to convince her, since she was smart enough to know that some quirks influence the user’s mind into thinking a certain way that was normal to them but not to the rest of society. 

After that, all she had to say was that she knew that Jade’s self-control and social awareness were better than Floyd’s but she didn’t know to what extent. Then she told him that he didn’t need to reign himself in as much at home, that so long as it didn’t endanger his brothers, bother the neighbours, or inconvenience their grandfather, he was free to cut loose however he wanted.

That. Was music to his ears. The permission to be as annoying as he wanted without getting reprimanded was something he revelled in. Even more so when Azul was unable to get Nee-chan to stop him from being annoying because she thinks that he was just expressing pent-up emotions instead of actively trying to annoy Azul.

It was glorious.

Azul hated it.

It was amazing.

Of course, Jade knew he couldn’t do it all the time and instead need to ‘vent’ differently from time to time so as to not raise Nee-chan’s suspicions but it was worth seeing Azul’s face turn red with anger.

Almost like a boiled octopus!

Speaking of boiled octopus, “Can we have some tako nigiri sushi for dinner tonight? Azul isn’t here so it’s fine, right?” 

“Yeah!” Floyd nodded, “Azul’s gone so we can eat octopus!”

Nee-chan paused for a second before nodding, “Sure, but you need to go to the store to buy it. I can’t go today since I have a recording session to get to later in the afternoon so if you want to eat it, you need to buy it.”

“Kay~!”

“And don’t forget to check online if you aren’t sure which one to pick. Not everything in the market is good to eat!”

“Of course.” Jade nodded.

Jade couldn’t wait to eat octopus again. As well as take pictures to send to Azul. Since Azul was born with an octopus quirk (at least to Nee-chan) it has been decided by Nee-chan that they would not eat octopus when Azul was around. The same goes for eating eels only when he and Floyd weren’t around.

He and Floyd naturally whined about it for hours on end and Floyd even pretended to try to eat Azul when he was in his octopus form but Nee-chan put her foot down. As well as paralyzed them with her poison but that was a minor detail. 

Poor Azul decided that his best protection was beside Nee-chan for a solid week before he remembered he was technically a lot older than her and that he shouldn’t be using a little girl as a shield when he should be able to protect himself. He was red for days. 

“What’s so funny, Jay-kun?” Nee-chan asked.

Jade didn’t realize he was laughing, “Nothing. Just remembering the look on Azul’s face when Oji-san took him away.”

Nee-chan laughed, “Yes, it was an expression I never thought Azz-kun was able to make. So precious.”

“It was a work of art!” Floyd nodded before trying to imitate it, “He was all ‘noooooo’ and ‘why meeeeeeeee’ and 'Floyd'!”

"The last one was because you ate his slice of cake." Jade reminded but it fell on deaf ears.

“I do wonder why Oji-san only took Azul to his company’s reunion party in America. For an entire month as well. Thankfully it’s summer break but…” Nee-chan trailed off as she stopped eating and looked out the window.

“Nee-chan, do not lie to yourself. For one thing, you couldn’t go even if you wanted to due to your busy schedule. Floyd is Floyd, enough said. As for me, I am just as bad as Floyd on some days so Azul was the only logical choice Oji-san had if he wanted to show off his grandchildren to the other elderly.”

Nee-chan sighed, “True. Though, I wanted to visit the Americas. It would have been fun to see how well my polyglot abilities are.”

“Nee-chan! Let’s play!” Floyd exclaimed, bored of the conversation, and pulled Nee-chan to the game consoles. 

“Okay, which game?”

Jade watched as his brother and sister played some pre-quirk era game (Super Mario Smash Bros) that their grandfather owned. Jade wasn’t lying when he reasoned with Nee-chan, he was just omitting some things. To be honest, the only completely honest thing he said was about Floyd.

Nee-chan was busy because her manager (who was one of their grandfather’s people before they turned her into one of Azul’s people) made her busy this month. As for Jade himself, he just didn’t want to go. It had nothing to do with his self-control and everything to do with not being in the mood. He managed to convince their grandfather to let him stay because it wouldn’t be safe to leave Floyd alone with their sister no matter how docile he was in front of her and how strong Nee-chan was.

Mainly because everyone knew that Floyd only kept his mouth shut when he feels like it and will tell people secrets if he believes it would make his life more fun but it just wouldn’t do if he accidentally reveals they were part of the Yakuza to Nee-chan before everything was ready. By that, Jade meant that their grandfather was dead and no one challenging Azul’s claim to the bloody throne.

Their grandfather wouldn't die by assassination, they would let nature run its course. Especially since he was adamant that his granddaughter would never learn of their dark family history for as long as he lives.

So if he’s dead, there was no problem about bringing Nee-chan into the fold. Knowing her, she might not even care.

“A-ha! I win!” Floyd cheered.

“Good game, Flo-kun.” Nee-chan said as she placed the controller down, “I need to get going, or else I won’t be able to get to the talk-through early enough to avoid traffic and go through the script on my own again. You two be good, okay?”

“Yes, Nee-chan.” Floyd nodded as he started playing another game.

“Of course.” Jade nodded, “We will also go buy the octopus so hurry back to cook it unless you wouldn’t mind Floyd and me cooking it…”

“No.” Nee-chan said immediately, “Remember the rules, stay out of the kitchen. Until I can trust you with the power of cooking meals for us to digest, you are not allowed into any kitchen no matter how well you can cook.”

“It was only one time!” Floyd whined.

“And that one time sent poor Jiro-san to the hospital because he couldn’t handle the ungodly amount of spice you ‘accidentally’ slipped into his food!” Nee-chan retorted, “You can’t just do that to people’s food!”

Well, that wasn’t faire. Jiro was interrupting our family dinner, one of the few family dinners that their grandfather was unable to come to due to an emergency meeting. Jiro’s cover was the owner of one of the orphanages they were working in who wanted to give a rundown of what they were doing as part-time workers who were still minors. Anyway, he was interrupting them so it was only faire that he got punished.

Both during the interruption and after. They had fun running Jiro into the ground in the name of strength training.

“We didn’t even use your paralysis that time…” Floyd wilted.

Even though Jade was the closest to Floyd, he didn’t know if Floyd was acting or not at this moment. On one hand, it was the perfect time to act and Floyd was a Morey Eel after all. However, on the other hand, Floyd looked too genuine to be faking it. Unless Floyd was in the mood to act then anything was possible.

“Don’t even start.” Nee-chan shook her head before grabbing her back and slipping on her shoes, “I’ll be off, don’t burn down the prefecture while I’m gone.”

“No promises!” Floyd waved, his expression back to looking happy.

Nee-chan gave them one last wave before she left the house. They waited for a few minutes in case she came back to get something she forgot. Once they were in the clear, Floyd turned off the TV and barrelled towards Jade, hitting him in the gut and pushing him onto the floor.

As expected of a Morey Eel, they are ambush hunters, after all, they know exactly how to time their attacks.

“You stole and ate some of my fish!” Floyd yelled as he started trying to punch Jade’s teeth in.

“Fufufu, you should have eaten faster.” Jade smiled, dodging some of the punches, and rolled under the kotatsu.

Jade pounced onto Floyd and put him into a vice grip.

“Ouch! Lemme go!” Floyd struggled.

“Of course, I will,” Jade said, smiling down at Floyd. “I’m not angry at you for attacking me since I did eat your food, however, you deserve an appropriate reward for doing so, don’t you? You are a spoiled one after all.”

“Stupid Jade and his stupid experiments,” Floyd muttered. “I don’t want any of your stupid creations you try to pass as food. One day you’re going to turn into a mushroom and I’ll make Nee-chan eat you..”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you very well.”

“Huh? You’re already started turning into a mushroom-”

Jade tackled Floyd onto the couch. They started exchanging blows with violence clearly shining in their eyes, however, they made sure not to cause any property damage or leave any lasting signs of their fight. Azul couldn’t just pull out money from nowhere to fix the damages, that would raise Nee-chan’s suspicions. As for lasting signs, Nee-chan would get worried about them fighting. 

They kept up the attacks until they tipped over the couch, landing on top of each other with a loud crash.

Floyd got up, “I’m bored now, you clean up.”

Jade watched as Floyd walked away, leaving him to clean the mess they made. At least it was just the couch. Actually, now that Jade looked closer, the leather of the couch had deep cuts on it. 

Time to buy a new couch.

He never did like this couch anyway.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jade dragged Floyd with him as they went to the supermarket. They needed to buy the octopus from the seafood area for dinner and then, after dropping that off at home, they need to buy an identical couch to replace the one they broke. They needed to get both done before Nee-chan came back.

“No. Jade, no.” Floyd was scolding him for once, “You will not waste the money we brought for this.”

“But Floyd.” Jade exclaimed, eyes sparkling, “Just look at all the possible species we have to choose from!”

Jade looked down at all the mushrooms perfectly packaged and put on display on the shelves of the supermarket. Even though there are only twenty varieties of mushrooms that were actually tasty to the human tongue, it wouldn’t stop Jade from wanting to buy the less desirable ones.

“No! We are here to buy an octopus, not feed your weird mushroom addiction!” Floyd yelled. 

Floyd wrapped an arm around Jade’s waist and pulled him over to the seafood section, Jade half-heartedly struggled while ignoring the weird looks he was getting. Or, that’s how it should have been. No one around them even spared them a glance. This was worrying because seeing someone be dragged as they struggled to get away wasn’t something they should just ignore.

Jade’s eyes darkened. While it was entertaining at times to lead people by the nose and make them dance to his tune, it gets so boring if they make it easy. The fun comes in the process and planning, doing hundreds of little things to nudge events into fruition and knowing that, although the people he was playing with have strong personalities, they were helpless to his plots. Watching everything come together and watching the fallout wasn’t as fun as the process to get there.

The people here, as he has said time and time again, were plastic and two-dimensional at best. Completely mindless at worst. They have egos and pride but that’s all they have. They may think they are individuals with unique personalities but, when it’s all boiled down, they all think that the Pro Heroes would be the ones to help them in their time of need. Helpless little sheep being led to the slaughter.

As for the Pro Heroes, they think they are invaluable paragons of good and should be worshiped for it. Even then, some of them are selfish, only being in it for the fame and money that came with the title of Pro Hero. The ones who don’t seem to only be able to see the world in black and white and refuse to understand that the world was made up of shades of grey. Only able to see the world like this, not even trying to see the other side because what’s wrong was wrong and that was that.

Villains were the only mixed bag. 

Villains could be evil for the sake of being evil, boring as the rest of society, but they could be so much more. They could be evil for some form of recognition. They could be evil to take revenge on society for rejecting them. They could be evil because they broke the law for a loved one. They could be evil because they don’t know any better. They could have been forced into being evil by society.

Villains were, by far, Jade’s favourite toys. It is wonderful that Azul was going the less-than-legal route instead of the legal route this time.

“Snap out of it, Jade! I bought the octopus - I’m naming him Azul until we eat him by the way - so let's go home. We still need to go to the mall to buy the new couch. Stupid Jade, it wouldn’t have gotten broken if you just let me kill you.” 

“Oya, Oya, did you choose the octopus properly?” Jade asked, snapping out of his thoughts and purposely ignoring Floyd’s attempt to annoy him since it wouldn’t do to get into a fight while in public, “Did you make sure you picked the one with a double row of suckers on each of their eight limbs? You know the ones with two rows signal better quality and better flavour than one row.”

“Of course! We’re finally allowed to eat Azul, so I’m making sure it will be as tasty as possible.” Floyd smiled guilelessly.

“Perfect, now let’s go home.” Jade smiled. 

“I want to eat some seafood ice cream before we go.” Floyd declared.

“Buy me a cone as well.”

“M’kay.”

Floyd the octopus into Jade’s arm and marched over to the ice cream parlour down the street without a second thought. Not that Jade minded, it was safer to let him deal with paying since Floyd doesn’t have the patience to stand in line, waiting until it was time to pay and speak politely to the cashier.

Now all that was left was to go to the mall to buy a new couch. They would need to make sure they get the exact model, get it delivered as soon as possible, and finish building it before seventeen o’clock since that was when Nee-chan came back. If they call in some workers from Shinkai to help, they can probably get it done without much problem.

Jade pulled out his phone, “Hello, Jiro-san, wonderful day wasn’t it?”

The curses coming from his phone that no one else could hear were music to his ears.

Yes, Jade was going to have a lot of fun with the so-called villains of this society. Especially when Azul rules it all.

Chapter Text

Floyd couldn’t hold it in any longer. As soon as Nee-chan excused herself and left the house, he walked into his room and started laughing. Finally, the old man was going to die soon. It took him six years to finally get close to kicking the bucket but he was finally passing away! No more secrets from Nee-chan!

All it took was the old man being at the wrong place at the wrong time and being caught up in one of Endeavor’s capture. So now the old man was in the hospital with fourth-degree burns and will die soon. He only had a few days left, if Nee-chan was right so all they had to do is wait.

“Floyd, even if you placed your room under a silencing spell, you shouldn’t laugh like that unless you locked the doors.” Jade said as he entered the room with Azul entering behind him.

“Why? Nee-chan isn’t home, she just went to visit the burnt zombie and I only put up that silencing spell so none of the anemones would hear and tell Nee-chan that I was laughing at the news.”

“It’s the principle of the matter, what if this becomes a habit?” Azul scolded.

“Like you did when Azarashi-chan barged into the supposedly spelled silent and locked consultation room you and Koebi-chan were in when Koebi-chan wanted to make a deal to get rid of the anemones.” Floyd huffed.

“Why you…! That was strategy! Strategy! It was not an oversight and you know it, we all knew that…” Azul went on a tangent about something or another but Floyd didn’t want to continue listening.

He was bored. 

“Ne, ne, Azul, will the old man make an announcement that you’re now the boss or will it just be in his will?” Floyd asked, interrupting Azul.

“And that’s why- where you even listening to me?!” 

“Nope. Not at all. So, answer?”

“You little… okay.” Azul took a deep breath and calmed down, it was sad that he didn’t look like a boiled octopus anymore, “Since the hospital he is currently staying in for his last days is one of the ones the group owns, we will probably sneak in with some witnesses where he would do all the traditional stuff to pass on the title of boss onto me. If he ends up dying before that, then it will fall onto his will.”

“A will that you edited.” Jade added, his smile even slimier than normal.

“You’re smile’s really creepy today, Jade.”

“Fufufu, why thank you, Floyd.”

“Anyway!” Azul yelled, getting their attention, “Nee-chan said that she has begun battling an uphill fight with the lawyers to sue Endeavor for what he did. It will most likely be brushed off and buried like all the other lawsuits lobbied against him by the Hero Commission but we would still get enough to cover the expenses for the hospital fee and the funeral. It seems like the Endeavor agency is experienced in this kind of thing.”

“Naturally, if it wasn’t for his record of villains beaten and the number of people he somewhat saved, he would have crashed and burned like his quirk. The Hero Commission is really hiding his darker parts.” Jade added, “Though he’s usually much better at controlling himself, the villain he was chasing was much more powerful than the ones he usually dealt with so he lowered his guard and the old man paid the price.”

“Hero Commission, Smero Commission.” Floyd huffed, “I bet it’s dirtier than the old Ramshackle Dorm before we, no, even before Yuu cleaned it.”

“Fufufu, if Floyd says so, then it must be true.” Jade nodded, “Well, Azul, what do you say?”

Azul had an unpleasant but self-assured smile on his face, “Well, we were already planning to take over the entirety of the underworld, weren’t we? If the Hero Commission is as corrupt as Floyd says it is then it obviously has ties in the underworld, so, naturally, they will soon be pawns in my hand.”

“How are you going to manage a seemingly heroic association while securing the survival of the underworld or vice versa?” Jade asked.

“Simple. Those who work under me will be fine, those who do would be given lighter sentences, depending on what they end up doing. We can swing it as not wanting to ruin someone’s life for something so small and make up some tragic backstory, the sheep will buy it hook, line, and sinker. We can go into more detail when we get there, for now, let’s finish securing Japan.”

Azul was probably feeling very confident in himself since he was standing so tall, but Floyd was getting bored.

“Ne, ne, Azul~, when can I start squeezing people again? It’s no fun if I can’t.”

“Just wait a little longer. Soon, he’ll be dead and I can start letting you and Jade handle the unruly customers.” Azul said, trying to placate Floyd, “If it bothers you that much, you can torment- I mean, discipline some of the younger grades in our old Middle School. Jade found something very interesting.”

“Really?” Floyd brightened before turning to Jade, “Jade, Jade, whatcha got for me?” 

“Currently, there is a student in fourth grade who is quirkless, Midoriya Izuku. He is always being bullied by the other students, just some name-calling, nothing overtly physical that couldn’t be brushed off as accidents, but bullying nonetheless. None of the other students want to get involved, either because they do not care for a quirkless person, they are the bullies, they’re scared of the bullies, or because if he wasn’t targeted they would be targeted due to their so-called villainous quirks. Midoriya himself seems to see the ring leader of the bullies as a friend, probably a childhood friend based on the childish nickname he gave him. He has never stood up for himself in any meaningful way instead stuttering and backtracking as soon as his bullies seemed aggravated. However, despite all this, he dreams of becoming a hero. Though, dreaming was all he has ever done.”

“Did he ask for help or something?” Floyd asked, not seeing why they would want to help such a useless person who wouldn’t even fight back or chase his dreams.

“He’s living in a daydream, lying to himself every day to make himself feel better.” Azul scoffed before smiling, “And no, he didn’t ask for help. I just think it would just be ironic for a wannabe hero like him to be saved by a yakuza member. People who, in his delusions, are no better than villains he dreams to win against.”

“Fufufu, for a villainous person saving a helpless person from their bullies and demanding nothing in return, that would really mess with his head.” Jade laughed.

Azul smirked, “Exactly. If he becomes a police officer, would he be able to put away someone who, in his eyes, saved him? The answer would be no. He would think Floyd was coerced into it or try to rehabilitate him. Don’t worry about acting, Floyd. Just be yourself. Ah, but make sure you’re a lot nicer.”

“Why police officer?” Floyd asked.

“Simple, it’s the closest thing to being a hero he could get since quirkless people aren’t allowed into Hero Courses, well except UA but anyone quirkless would still struggle with the Entrance Exam so it still stands.”

“All you have to do is save him when we tell you to save him, I will do all the talking for you.” Jade said.

“M’kay~”

Floyd waited this long, a little appetizer before the main course was enough to keep him waiting a little longer. Messing with small plankton who dreams of being a Same ( Author’s note: Same means shark in Japanese ) to pass the time won’t be as fun but it would make the time pass a bit faster.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Floyd made sure to stand as still as possible. Nee-chan explicitly asked him to act as society’s normal for the funeral. It was fine if he was alone and wanted to fight with his brothers but not in public during a funeral. Floyd guesses that one of Nee-chan’s limits was disrespecting the dead.

Azul will probably be busy making sure all their workers have good funerals when their time’s up.

Anyway, he was standing between Jade and Azul behind Nee-chan as they watched the old man’s coffin get slowly placed onto a conveyor belt leading to a large cremator. He was placed there because Jade and Azul could hold him back if he suddenly decides to wander off somewhere, Nee-chan’s words. As for why they were behind Nee-chan, it was because they were all taller than her.

Nee-chan was about Kobanzame-chan’s height while he and Jade were almost at their old height of 190 cm. Though they were still the same height at 175 cm, Floyd knew he was going to be a centimetre taller than Jade in this life again. As for Azul, they were still the same height as him but Azul was going to stop growing now and be the shortest between the three of them again.

“As the coffin entered the cremator, please get on your knees and pray for the safe passage of the deceased.” Some random plankton ordered.

Slowly, everyone started moving but Floyd kept standing still. He would never let plankton tell him what to do.

“Come on, Floyd.”

“But I don’t wanna.” Floyd grumbled.

“Just for today, Floyd.”

Floyd grumbled and got onto his knees and pretended to pray. All the people around them were muttering, crying, and a bunch of other annoying noises. They should be more like Nee-chan. Her eyes were red but she wasn’t crying, she wasn’t muttering or anything, just silently pretending to pray.

Nee-chan doesn’t believe in god and she said that praying was for the living, not the dead, so there was no way she was actually praying. Nee-chan might be big on respecting the dead but she wasn’t big on the religious aspect of funerals.

Suddenly, there was a bang at the door, causing everyone to snap out of their noisiness and turned their head. Floyd could vaguely hear Azul curse his name as if blaming him for the interruption. Rude. If Floyd had the power to change reality he would have used it already to make this world more fun.

It’s like Azul, his own triplet , didn’t know him.

Ah, the creepy person was saying something.

“So, tell me, how does it feel being at a funeral of a loved one knowing that it was caused by the Number Two Hero?” The creepy person asked.

Nevermind. It wasn’t important. They were just monologuing about their own tragic backstory caused by the so-and-so hero who was now so-and-so rank. Something about rotten society, yelling about needing to stand up for themselves, and how it wasn't faire that heroes weren’t abiding by the same laws they enforce.

Honestly, Floyd could care less. Let Jade and Azul absorb whatever information the stupid person is saying, Floyd was a genius who didn’t need other people telling him what’s right or wrong, he already knows.

Floyd could feel other people feeling scared and nervous. It was annoying. There were so many of them and one of him, not even using their quirks, numbers alone would statistically let them win with a few casualties. The person in front of them seems to have some kind of quirk that lets him make fire blades from his arms. All they need to do was turn on the sprinklers or make the cremator get hot enough to cause the sprinklers to go off and then there wouldn’t be any fires. 

Suddenly, another bang happened and a small tornado of flames erupted around the screaming person. The tornado folded into itself and turned into a dome-like thing over the person.

“I caught you, Villain.”  

Floyd wonders why the flaming dude capitalized the word villain as if it was the stupid person’s name. 

“Hahaha!” The stupid and crazy person laughed manically, “Endeavor! Oh, the irony! You came to fight the villain who was slicing up the local area only to end up catching the villain at the funeral of one of the people you killed!”

“Silence. I don’t want to hear it from a no-good Villain.” Endeavor ordered.

Soon the police arrived and the stupid crazy person was put in bars. They were all questioned about the situation. Azul said that they were rushing the process because they were currently attending a funeral but Floyd didn’t care, it still took too long. When everything was all done, they were allowed to go back to pointless praying.

“Wait.” Nee-chan said, walking towards Endeavor who was about to leave, “Are you seriously leaving like that?”

Nee-chan was wearing a long ankle-length black dress with the simple, but expensive white pearl necklace that the old man had given her for her birthday that year. Her hair was done up into a bun using a dark brown hair stick. She was standing tall, like one of those female bosses who were tired of the people only see their bodies and was about to lay down the law to some stupid debris. Floyd wonders how Linda is doing, it was always amusing to watch her work. Every time she was at a party, someone would go home in tears. 

“I am very busy so I need to-”

“Too busy to spend a few seconds praying to the old man who ended up a casualty during one of your arrests?” Nee-chan asked sarcastically, “Normally, I wouldn’t have blamed you, you can’t go to every funeral you caused but you are here now, which means you have enough time to bow to the coffin.”

Endeavor’s face seemed to show that he was very reluctant but when he spotted other people looking expectantly at him, his face turned blank. He walked over to the cremator, bowed, and held it for three seconds before standing back up and leaving the premise without a second glance.

Nee-chan watched him leave with an unimpressed face before turning back to the person doing the funeral stuff, “Please continue where you left off.”

The person jumped, probably not expecting Nee-chan to start ordering her around as soon as Endeavor left, “Y-yes. Of course.”

Nee-chan returned to her place in front of them, knelt back down, and continued acting as if she was praying. She did all this while ignoring the debris gawking at her. Nee-chan wasn’t like the other people in this world. She wasn’t trash, she had a brain and used it too. Floyd would never pick wrong.

He was a genius after all.

“Flo-kun, you did really well today.” Nee-chan smiled, snapping Floyd out of his thoughts as she handed him something, “Here, this is a ticket for the Rage Room you love so much. Paid for and everything.”

Floyd’s eyes brightened as he took the paper from her hand, “Wow~ Thanks Nee-chan! You’re the best!”

Nee-chan smiled, “You deserve it.”

Floyd hummed happily. Funeral of the old man or not, Floyd was really happy. It wasn’t like the old man meant anything to Floyd.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Floyd walked around the neighbourhood with Jade beside him. Azul said that the quirkless kid was going to be bullied behind the school after school today and since today was the day they have a free period for them, they could get there with time to spare. The time that Floyd used to buy himself a cup of hot chocolate.

Soon, they heard the sounds of some laughter coming from behind the school. Floyd knew that they were supposed to be hearing mean-spirited laughter, Azul’s words not his, but Floyd couldn’t hear any. All laughter is laughter. Just because your feelings are negative doesn’t make the laughing less of a laugh. People are so weird, trying to categorize things that don’t need to be categorized.

They should be more like him, Floyd. If everyone was like him then everything would be more fun.

“Showtime, Floyd.” Jade said as they made their way around the school, “Are you in the mood?”

“Mmm… I don’t know, maybe I will be when I see ‘em.” Floyd answered.

They turned the corner and could see four kids. One had sparks coming out of his hands, one had a really long nose, one had blond hair that looked like paper, and the last one had green hair. 

The green-haired one was the target. 

They weren’t doing anything really mean to the weakling. At least, not anything Floyd would consider as doing something mean. But then again, Floyd does a lot of things that society would call mean so maybe Floyd wasn’t the best judge right now. All Floyd knew was he could step in now because the target was hurt.

“Oi~ whatcha kids doin’?” Floyd asked as he walked towards them, not really caring as he took a sip from his cup.

All the kids froze for a second and turned toward them. So slow. If they lived in the Coral Sea, they would have been eaten already. They should have been able to sense him, he wasn’t being stealthy at all!

“Who are you?” One of the kids asked suspiciously.

“Meh, I’m just taking a walk, but then I smelled blood so here I am.” Floyd smiled.

“Smell?”

“Yep! It smelled sweet too.” Floyd licked his lips, causing the kids to shiver.

“Oi! If you come any closer, I’ll kill ya!” The sparky one yelled with a manic smile as sparks came out of his hands.

“Floyd, don’t scare the kids.” Jade laughed, appearing behind him before directing his attention to the kids, “Now, as you may or may not know, Transformation Quirks that turn its users into animal-like beings sometimes makes the senses of the user like the ones of their animals. It can also influence our instincts. So, apologies if we scared you. However, I do believe we should get your friend treated.”

The three kids except the target started talking to each other. They were talking about how it wouldn’t do any good if they left the ‘quirkless loser’ to strangers, even if he was useless since they would get in trouble. Floyd wasn’t listening to them. Least of all the target who didn’t seem to have any sense of self-preservation. The target was going on a mumbling tangent, trying to figure out their quirks.

Floyd didn’t want to save someone this weak. 

He wants to squeeze him until his head turns purple and pops off but Azul said he couldn’t this time. Azul also promised he could finally cut loose soon so Floyd would listen to Azul this time.

“We went to this school two years ago.” Floyd said, jabbing his fingers towards the school building, “My name’s on the championship cup thing for basketball. My face should be in the commemorable photo too. We’re not suspicious. We just came to see why sweet-smelling blood was coming from our old school.”

“Saying that you’re not suspicious is really suspicious…”

“I’ll check!” One of the kids exclaimed, “I have a picture of the awards cabinet in my gallery. What’s your name?”

“Floyd.”

The slightly smarter kid took out his phone and Floyd zeroed in on the target, who was still muttering. Floyd was really disappointed. This kid, a kid who had no spatial awareness at all, wanted to be a hero? He’d let a villain walk away because he didn’t know that villain was a villain.

“Yep. He’s telling the truth.” The kid said.

“Tsk. Well, let’s leave then. Since we won’t be accused of letting Deku gets kidnapped, we can go.”

The trio of kids quickly left while Jade walked closer to the target. Floyd got bored, the kids didn’t even try to put up a fight. He looked up at the roof of the school, he wonders if the doodles he made while skipping class up there were still on the side of the building. He should check someday.

“There, all patched up.” Jade said, already in his society-friendly mask, “Can you tell me how you got so hurt?”

Even after all these years of being with Jade, Floyd still didn’t know why Jade tries so hard to look normal. It’s much more fun to be free. Besides, what’s the point in acting to fit in with anyone else? That’s too much work and why would Floyd want to be anyone else? Being Floyd was amazing!

“T-Thanks.” The target stuttered.

“Finally! You’re done.” Floyd exclaimed as he stared at the kid, “You talk a whole lot, ya know, kid?”

“S-sorry!” The target exclaimed, “It’s a habit!”

Floyd could tell the target’s instincts were yelling at him to run away but the target himself wasn’t listening to them. Actually, it was like the target didn’t understand his instincts at all. He didn’t know they were there and he didn’t know what they were trying to tell him. So sad. This is what happens when you get indoctrinated into the Hero Cult, you turn into weak little prey.

“So why did they beat cha up?” Floyd asked bluntly.

“B-beat me up? N-no, we were just playing!” 

“Thank why were you the only one hurt?”

“I-I wanted to play as the hero but I was too weak to play the role right so I got hurt. That’s all.”

“Do you want to be a hero?” Jade asked.

“Yes! It’s my dream!” The target exclaimed, starry-eyed as he started going on another tangent.

“You’ll fail.” Floyd said bluntly.

The target froze before shrinking into himself, “Y-You heard them when they talked about me, right? T-That I don’t have a quirk? W-Well, I’m not letting that stop me, I’ll be the first quirkless hero and-”

“How can ya be a hero when you don’t put in the effort?” Floyd interrupted, “You’re all skin and bone, no muscle on you. How can you even dream of being a hero and say all that if you don’t even try? Ergo, you’re just a dreamer who won’t put in any real effort so you will never be a hero. Less than useless.”

The target looked like he wanted to retort but Floyd was bored of the conversation. This was more of Jade’s thing so Floyd let Jade take over. 

Next time, Floyd would make sure the next jobs Azul gives him were better ones. This wasn’t fun at all.

Chapter Text

Azul couldn’t remember when was the last time he felt this nervous. He wasn’t even nervous when he gathered up all the higher-ups of the Shinkai Group and told them that he was changing its name to Octavinelle and turning the outfits they wear into something similar to the Octavinelle Dorm Outfits. It was easy to stare down all of those who dared look defiant of the change until they submitted. There was one very persistent and vocal objection but it was quickly silenced when Azul gave Floyd permission to cut loose on the unfortunate soul. Azul wasn’t heartless, however. Their hospital bills would be paid out of the group’s wallet. For the time being at least.

Now that Azul thought about it, he bet he hasn’t been nervous since he decided to shed his past of being ridiculed and laughed at. It was different now, in the past, he was nervous about the other kids making fun of him. Now, however, he was nervous about what someone who already loved him unconditionally would think of him now that he was showing them another side of him.

“Nee-chan loves us, she won’t care.” Floyd said with a yawn, not even the least bit concerned.

Azul thinks he would have felt a bit better if Floyd at least tried to look just as nervous as Azul felt. Actually, maybe he wouldn't since Floyd has never been nervous in his life. 

“Floyd, be reasonable. Nee-chan might be smarter than everyone else and she isn’t colorblind like the others who can only see the world in black and white but she’s a native of this world. She may not be able to accept that we work in the underbelly of society.” Jade said as he tried to explain things to Floyd.

“Whatever.” Floyd said in a sing-song manner as he flopped down onto the bed, “I’m right and you’ll find out I’m right. Imma take a nap.’

“You can’t, Floyd. You need to be there.”

“Don’t wanna. I already know what’s gonna happen.”

“You still need to eat dinner.” Jade reminded him.

“Ughhhh!” Floyd groaned, “But I don’t wanna listen to you talk circles, never getting to the point, for hours!”

Azul was too stressed to bother dealing with Floyd so he left it all to Jade. However, before Jade could do anything else, Floyd sat up. Azul looked at Floyd and saw that his eyes were sparkling and he had a bright grin on his face. Whatever Floyd was planning, Azul already knew he was going to dread it. Whether it will be the plan itself, the execution, or the end result Azul was dreading has yet to be determined but Azul was already dreading it.

“Imma tell Nee-chan I want to eat in my room on my own because you two have serious stuff you want to tell her!” Floyd yelled as he bolted out of his room, down the hall, and down the stairs before Azul or Jade could react.

“That little…!” Azul grated his teeth.

Even after all these years and spending his entire current life with Floyd, Azul is still unable to control that living embodiment of chaos and free will. Why couldn’t Floyd be more like Jade? At least Jade was more reliable in societal settings and won’t cause mayhem wherever he feels like it.

Actually, no. Jade was actually much worse than Floyd. At least Azul can know what Floyd’s feeling by looking at him, Jade is harder to read than an iron wall. He was also more dangerous. While Floyd was a physical danger, Jade was an emotional and psychological danger. Even if Jade was outwardly harmless most of the time, when Jade acts out, he was determined.

Azul just wishes he could have a moment of peace. Where was his peace? Even in death he still has to put up with them!

“Are you going to stop him?” Jade asked.

Azul sighed, “Too late now. Besides, Nee-chan wouldn’t let him skip out on dinner when it was Family Dinner Night tonight. So really, other than Nee-chan getting a heads-up on what was to come during tonight's dinner conversation, I doubt-”

Floyd decided that this was the perfect time to barge back into the room and dove for the bed. Azul hopes for Floyd’s sake that he didn’t break his bed or else he was buying a replacement using Floyd’s docked paycheck.

“Nee-chan said it was fine! I’m eating on your bed.” Floyd declared as he laid down like a starfish on Azul’s bed.

“She what- hold on. What are you going to do on my bed?!” Azul yelled in fury, “Eat in your own bed!”

“Did Nee-chan really say that it was fine?” Jade asked curiously, “Nee-chan wouldn’t say that today.”

“I told her some stuff and she said it was fine.” Floyd said with a blase attitude.

Azul seriously considered strangling Floyd. He could do it, and he had enough limbs to do it without getting too close to Floyd. Was it worth it? 

“As per my contract, I am obligated to remind you that it’s not worth it. You would have killed Floyd a long time ago if it was.” Jade spoke up.

“Damn it all to the depts of the sea.” Azul cursed, however before Azul could drown in his misery of ending up like this in his second life, he remembered something, “Hey, Floyd… what… exactly did you say to Nee-chan…?”

“Mmm… not tellin’!” Floyd declared.

“Floyd…!”

Before Azul could transform and strangle Floyd, consequences be damned because that eel needs to die, Nee-chan knocked on the door. Azul took a deep breath, turned around to ignore Floyd, and opened the door.

“Flo-kun, I brought you your dinner.” Nee-chan smiled as she placed Floyd’s food down on Azul’s desk. 

Azul just stared at Floyd’s innocent, guilt-free face.

“Wah~ Thank’s Nee-chan!” Floyd cheered.

Was it still too late to turn the Aikawa Triplets into the Aikawa Fraternal Twins? Would Nee-chan mourn Floyd? She didn’t mourn the old man much but that could be contributed to the fact that she knew he was going to die soon…

“You’re welcome.” Nee-chan smiled at Floyd before turning her attention towards him and Jade, “Let’s go down, dinner’s on the table.”

Nee-chan just walked out the door. The irritation Azul had towards Floyd melted away into confusion and curiosity. Just what did Floyd say to Nee-chan while he was downstairs that would let him eat upstairs while also making it so that she wouldn’t ask them any questions before dinner? 

Whatever, Azul would find out in a few minutes.

“Don’t make a mess in my room, Floyd.” Azul gave Floyd one last warning before leaving his room.

“M’kay~”

Azul knows that Floyd wasn’t going to listen to him unless he feels like it but it was the principle of the matter.

Azul and Jade made their way down the hall, down the stairs, and into the kitchen where Nee-chan set up dinner. They went to their seats as Nee-chan turned off the fan, it was night time so the fan wasn’t needed.

They ate in silence until Azul spoke up.

“So… what did Floyd tell you, Nee-chan?” 

“Oh, this and that.” Nee-chan smiled as she hid a giggle.

That explained absolutely nothing.

“And those things were…?” Jade prompted.

Nee-chan kept smiling, “Well, I would rather hear what you wanted to tell me from your mouths.”

Azul took a breath. 

This was it. If Nee-chan took it the wrong way then he’d lose it. Lose the wordless acceptance and limitless love that she gives him. Due to the nature of the Coral Sea, parents do not love their children. To rephrase, those who lived in the area where he and the Leech twins lived were emotionally detached from their children. Those parents love the idea of their kids, not their kids themselves.

If this goes wrong, Azul would lose the love he didn’t know he needed and Azul was very afraid of that.

“Six years ago, Oji-san brought up to meet his friends at the tennis club while you went to your first audition. It was a lie. Oji-san was actually a Yakuza Boss and he named me his successor. For the past six years, we have been working in the yakuza, not at orphanages. As of Oji-san’s death, I am now the boss.”

Azul kept it as plain and simple as possible. No softening the blow or talking in circles because he knew that Nee-chan hated that. She could tolerate it and she could do it too, but she dealt with it enough while she was working that she said that she didn’t want to hear it while she was at home. 

If Azul made sure to indirectly blame everything on the old man, well, he wasn’t alive anymore so it was fine.

“I see.” Nee-chan hummed, not showing any emotions or what she was thinking, “If you were trained as the heir, how about Flo-kun and Jay-kun?”

“I am now Azul’s Right Hand while officially, Floyd is his Left Hand.” Jade answered honestly, “Unofficially, Floyd does whatever Floyd wants and only listens to Azul when he feels like it.”

Nee-chan chuckled. Azul didn’t know what to think. On one hand, the tension in this room was so thick that not even a Zero Rey spell can break through it. On the other hand, Nee-chan just chuckled so it must be a good sign.

“Flo-kun does whatever Flo-kun wants.” Nee-chan repeated with a smile, “And Flo-kun came clean right after I came back from finishing all of Oji-san’s funeral preparations.”

Azul’s mind went blank.

His brain couldn’t compute.

However, a small portion of his consciousness that was still alert acknowledged that Jade’s ever-present smile disappeared. In its place, was Jade’s surprised face. Which was a more relaxed face with his mouth in an o-shape and his eyes wide open. As much as Azul would have loved to savour this lapse of control, Azul’s mind was still too busy wrapping around what Nee-chan just said.

“Floyd did what?” Azul’s mouth asked as his brain continued to play catch up.

“Flo-kun walked up to me as soon as I was finished the funeral arrangements and told me that Oji-san told him that I could know he was part of the yakuza when he died. Flo-kun explained this and that but those are details.” Nee-chan waved her hand with her chopsticks still in her hands before pointing at them with her chopsticks, “Did you honestly think I would love you any less because what you do is less than legal?”

Those words felt like a bullet to the gut and Azul bet it showed since Nee-chan immediately stood up and walked toward them. Azul and Jade barely had enough time to put down their bowls and chopsticks when Nee-chan wrapped her arms around them and pulled them into a hug.

“Oh Azz-kun, Jay-kun… you know I can never hate you…” Nee-chan muttered as she rubbed her cheek onto their heads, “Psychologically, I can never live without you three and you know that. That’s why I’ve been going to therapy.”

“You don’t need to. We don’t mind.”

“You three don’t, and I don’t, but society does so I need to go.” Nee-chan sighed, before smiling, “I’ll tell you what I told Flo-kun a few weeks ago, so long as you continue not to interfere with my work (because you know how much pride I take in winning those auditions), don’t abuse anyone, don’t sell anyone into slavery, and give those you kill (because yakuza people kill, you can’t deny that) only what’s justified, then I don’t care.”

“How do you know we didn’t interfere?” Azul asked.

“I’d like to think you three know me well enough to know that I’d hate you for doing that so you won’t do it.” Nee-chan answered smoothly.

“What if we completely ruin someone’s life, drive them insane, and help them commit suicide?” Jade asked.

Azul wanted to punch Jade. What happened to that scammer happened in their last life, not this one, so Jade shouldn’t have been so specific. 

“So long as they deserve it, I don’t care.” 

Azul took a moment to review the flood of information that rushed into his brain. For one thing, it seems like he wouldn’t lose the feeling of being someone else’s cherished and important someone. For another thing, he just got permission to rain as much hell on those who spite him as he wanted.

However, none of those mattered in face of the most pressing thought on his mind. One that threatens to eat him up.

“I’m going to kill Floyd.” Azul muttered, however, Nee-chan put pressure on him to keep him seated.

“Ara, no. You aren’t allowed to kill your brother, Azz-kun.” Nee-chan lightly scolded him.

“If he did that, then he should have told us!” Azul exclaimed angrily.

Nee-chan just hummed and continued to hug them.

“Nee-chan, you don’t need to go to therapy. We can silence the media if they try to say anything.” Jade suggested, “Therapy just eats up your time and money you aren’t obsessed with keeping us in your line of sight, so really, you don’t need it.”

Azul was about to agree but Nee-chan shook her head, “Even if you do that, social media, rumours, and other things would pop up and interfere with my career. What would people think if I suddenly stop going to therapy when I still wasn’t cleared by my therapist? That would just be career-ending if people take it in the worst possible way. Not to mention I’d lose custody of you three, something I really don’t want.”

“I see.” Jade nodded as his smile glistened a bit more, “Not to mention having a Tragic Backstory unrelated to villain activity is rare. Well, rare in the realm of media. You also get positive news coverage by not hiding the fact you’re going to therapy and are taking steps to better yourself. Good PR all around.”

“Aww, Jay-kun is so smart!” Nee-chan ruffled Jade’s head with a smile before her face went a bit blank, “Society isn’t kind. I know I don’t have to tell you this, especially since Azul is now some underworld bigshot, but you need to remember that.”

Nee-chan let go of them and walked back to her seat. She took a sip of her jasmine tea and turned her head to look out the window. As she gazed out into the setting sun, Azul noticed that her eyes were bleak.

“As society becomes more and more dependent on heroes, the people become more and more used to looking at the world as if there is only Good and Evil in the world, never looking deeper than the surface. So now, if you don’t fit in with the rest of society, you are branded as a villain, a possible villain, a villain supporter, or whatever else and get dragged down until you either turn around and condemn someone else or have nothing left of yourself. Whether it’s how you look, what your quirk is or isn’t, or how your mind works, if you don’t fit in with what others consider the norm, you are thrown to the dogs.

“Not to mention, if you get lucky and get born with a quirk that people think is amazing, then you get a Get Out of Jail Free card for everything. So long as you don’t break any big laws or use your quirk in public, you can do whatever you want. Even if your personality is worse than death, you get praised on the bases of your quirk. Even work promotions, statistically you are more likely to get promoted if you have a nice quirk, no matter your work ethic. 

“The four of us are lucky. Lucky that we have Transformation Quirks instead of Mutant Quirks because we all know that most people would be scared of our mermaid and mermen forms. Lucky that our quirks only slightly changed how we looked when we aren’t transformed. It’s because we look normal and can act normal that we can live decent lives in society. I don’t know how the underworld treats quirks, but I both hope and dread that it’s better than how they are treated in the so-called light side of the world.”

Azul and Jade shared a look.

“... Did something happen?” Azul asked.

The reports of Octavinelle’s large network of spies didn’t say anything major about the quirk discrimination that Nee-chan would witness. However, thinking about what Nee-chan just said, perhaps the spies were also working on their biases. If so, they need to be retrained as soon as possible.

Nee-chan sighed, “I was walking past one of the audition rooms of my agency, the ones used for singing auditions. I heard some beautiful singing and it was clear the second auditionee was much better than the first. However, they chose the first singing. I didn’t understand but then one girl came running out and I saw that she had a dolphin head. I went after her and talked to her, giving her the business card of my manager so that she could get a job while singing OSTs and the like. As I comforted her, she gave me her story and told me how her little brother with an Anglerfish-like Mutant Quirk committed suicide just last year when he couldn’t take the abuse he was getting from school any longer. I knew it was bad, but I never realized just how bad it was. For a little kid who just turned nine years old to decide to end it all… it just isn’t right.”

Azul and Jade looked at each other. Their spies did tell them that Nee-chan gave someone a chance to get a job in the Voice Acting Department after they failed the Singer Department but they seemed to have left out some vital information. It seems like the spies do need to be retrained.

“Well, in the underworld, most of our people have Mutant Quirks and quirks that most people would label as Villainous.” Azul answered carefully, not wanting to make light of the sombre conversation topic, “Unfortunately, the underworld is the only place for those not accepted by society.”

Nee-chan let out a groan, “We live in a democracy. By that definition, we should be living based on how the majority wants to live. Those with Mutant Quirks, so-called Villainous Quirks, Quirkless, or just those who have less desired quirks shouldn’t be oppressed so much since they, as a collective, are the majority. Most of the oppression comes from rules and the way some people put heroes on pedestals but it's getting worse. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Azul looked at Nee-chan and decided against telling him his plan of tearing down the current way society worked and rebuilding it in a way that suited his taste. If he did that. He might be misunderstood.

He didn’t want Nee-chan to think he was doing it for her. He may like her but not enough to dominate the world for her.

At least now Azul knew that Nee-chan would never hate him and that she would support him in his quest for World Domination. He has already completely taken over Japan and was starting in Asia. In a year or three, the entire world would be under his heel and he just couldn’t wait.

He’ll build Nee-chan an underwater mansion later when he finishes. Might as well grant her long-time wish with that power.

Chapter Text

Floyd was so excited! After years of keeping everything on the down-low, being sent on mostly boring jobs with the occasional short fun job, Azul was finally giving him a long fun job to do! Azul was basically done with his Asia takeover but there was one stubborn group that popped back up in Japan so Azul wanted Floyd to deal with it. It’s not big but Azul said he gave them a few warnings already and they even killed one of Octavinelle’s people so Floyd was sent to terminate them.

Terminating means none of them can live. It also means that Floyd doesn’t need to hold back at all! He can bite, rip, and tear. He can squeeze them until their faces turn purple and their heads pop off! He could punt their bodies into walls and no one would get mad at him! Sure, Nee-chan said that they needed to deserve it first in order for him to do that but they do. They killed one of their men, so Octavinelle gets to kill them.

“Whatever! Nee-chan won’t care anyway!” Floyd exclaimed as he smiled guilelessly as he continued down the streets.

The street was dark and dirty, filled with glares from unfortunate people. Maybe they would want to make a deal with Azul? Their lives would get much more interesting. Whatever, it’s none of Floyd’s business. 

Right before getting too close to the Shie Hassaikai Group hideout, Floyd pulled out one of the papers Azul wrote, one with some barrier spell, and cast it. The barrier would be a sphere around the target building and it’s supposed to keep people inside and prevent noise from escaping. That way, none of Floyd’s prey could escape and no nosy Pro Hero would try to interfere.

Humming a happy tune, Floyd pushed open the door to the hideout, sending the door flying.

“Hello! I’m from the Octavinelle Group and I’m here to kick all your butts!” Floyd exclaimed happily.

Nee-chan’s last voice-acting gig was an action animated series and this was the perfect time to use those lines.

“You dare?! Men attack!” Some random grants yelled.

“Hahaha! Just like in Nee-chan’s shows!” Floyd exclaimed gleefully, “Does that make me Ikaru? Hahaha!”

The anemones rushed towards him. Aha! This was going to be so much fun! The schools of fishes always ran away from him when he was in the Coral Sea just because he ripped them apart half the time. Now, however, a bunch of them were rushing to him to play! It makes him so happy!”

“Hahaha! Let’s play!” Floyd cheered.

As one of them got close to punching him, Floyd turned to the side, grabbed the fist, and pulled the person towards him. Floyd’s eyes and smile sharpened. Floyd’s mouth opened wide and Floyd bit down on the person’s neck. In one swift motion, Floyd ripped out the person’s larynx, killing him instantly.

Floyd licked his teeth, “Hmm… taste like curry.”

The goons took a step back in horror. Their eyes were on the ripped-out larynx that was laying bloodily on the floor as their fellow goon bled out. They didn’t know if their fellow goon died the second their larynx was ripped out or if he was still alive and just dying of blood loss and lack of oxygen but they didn’t care. 

They wanted to live. 

Floyd watched as emotions swirled in the goons' eyes. Yes, this is what Floyd wanted. The hunter inside of him, the side that he promised Azul and Jade that he wouldn’t show anyone unless he has both of their permission, was finally allowed to come out. That hunter really liked watching its prey fall into despair.

Well, that and Floyd remembered last night’s episode of Nee-chan’s show and the monologue of this week’s villain.

“Despair! Despair! Oh, beautiful despair!” Floyd laughed as he ran towards one of the goons, grabbed their head, and smashed it against the wall, “I want to watch the light leave your eyes! Give me more despair!”

This would have been so much better if Floyd had his own minions as the villain did but if there were minions, there would have been less fun for Floyd. Floyd debated the benefits of having and not having minions while dancing around the bullets being shot at him, the knives being thrown at him, and the blades trying to slice him. Seriously~ How was he supposed to think like this?

Floyd wrapped his arms around one of the goons, jumping and dancing to avoid the attacks still coming his way and squeezing them until they broke, “Shut up. You are all so annoying. Just die.”

At this point, Floyd found himself in a daze. It wasn’t any hypnosis or anything, it was just something he gets into when he rips those fishes apart. Whenever it happens, all that remains were pieces of meat and bones and streams of blood floating around him which makes him look guilty.

“Aww man… done already? But I was having so much fun…” Floyd whined as he pouted and looked around the room he ended up in.

The room was a mess. There were body parts all around and the floor was stained with blood. This is why it is much better to commit murder underwater, there’s less cleaning to do and the animals would eat the evidence.

“Now what am I going to do?” Floyd asked.

Floyd passed a floor-length mirror and glanced at it. It seems like he would have to make one of the workers at Octavinelle do his laundry when he gets back, he didn’t want Nee-chan to deal with this. It takes too long to get the blood off of clothes. 

Floyd’s usual outfit that Azul forces him into was completely stained with blood. There were only a few spots that weren’t red. At this point, Floyd thinks he could argue that the suit was originally blood red and the grey colour was the paint instead of the other way around. His face, specifically around his mouth, was stained with blood. The only part of him that wasn’t bloody was his hat.

Floyd hummed a happy tune as he walked through the halls, he should make sure that he killed the boss too. As he looked at the corpses, trying to find the boss, he admired his work. The walls were stained with blood, guts, brain matter, and whatever other bodily fluids. There were intestines strung on the chandeliers too.

Maybe Floyd should go into interior design after high school? He would make an amazing interior designer! Just look at how great and pretty he made this old building look, he deserves a prize.

“Where’s the boss? I didn’t eat him, did I?” Floyd wondered.

Floyd opened the mini-fridge he found and took out an unopened bottle of water. He opened the bottle and took a sip, washing down the remaining blood in his mouth. Floyd took a moment to remember what Azul told him before he left Octavinelle. He wasn’t paying much attention because he wanted to start playing as soon as possible but Floyd was a genius so he remembered everything. 

Azul told him that the real boss fell into a coma earlier that year and that someone named Kai was the acting boss. The real boss was fine with the new status quo that Azul put in place but Kai wasn’t so as soon as it became possible, Kai took the group in a new direction with his own faction.

Floyd remembered the file Azul gave him. Floyd knew that Kai was the reason the boss fell into a coma because he used his quirk on the boss, not that Azul knew. Azul was so slow sometimes. 

“Aha! The underground! Nee-chan said she was bored of villains always having an underground lair. Maybe they have an underground lair too!” Floyd exclaimed as he skipped down the stairs.

Well, the stairs were probably supposed to be hidden but Floyd knew where they were so it isn’t like he could call them hidden stairs. Floyd jumped down the stairs, avoiding the ones that were obviously trapped, and pushed open the door before dropping to the floor and sliding in when bullets started flying his way.

“A-ha!” Floyd cheered gleefully, “I knew there had to be more people! Hey! Hey! Play with me! The people up there died too fast, even if it was fun killing them. You people seem stronger than them so you should be more fun!”

Floyd looked at the group in front of him. There was Kai who was protecting some old guy in a hospital bed, the old guy who was probably the boss, a little girl who was on a leash, and ten others. It was interesting that the little girl seemed to be more afraid of the leash and Kai than Floyd.

Nee-chan might like to have a little sister. Even if Floyd doesn’t want to share Nee-chan, getting her a little sister would give her some company when he, Jade, and Azul were away and prevent Nee-chan from dating anyone. A little sister who could grow to be independent someday was much better to have than an in-law who would just stick to Nee-chan like a disgusting barnacle.

“I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that we’re throwing all we have at him and he isn’t even fazed or the fact that he isn’t even taking us seriously…” One of the unimportant people muttered.

“Right! It’s decided then.” Floyd smiled.

Floyd ran quickly to the little girl, he was so fast that no human could see him. Once he got close, he knocked the girl out, got rid of the leash, and pulled her away from the group in one swift motion.

“Eri!” Kai yelled in shock, “Give her back!”

“Nah. Imma give her to Nee-chan as a present! Nee-chan would love a little sister to spoil now that my brothers and I are all grown up.”

“Grown-up? You look like a teenager.”

“Fourteen!” Floyd flashed them a peace sign before ripping the head off of the one who kept trying to eat him.

Floyd was the hunter, not the other way around. Prey pretending to be hunters should know their place.

One man started sending his hair’s arrows toward him so Floyd decided to use his Unique Magic to send the arrows to the other people. Floyd may not mind the cold but he wasn’t in the mood to deal with this.

He just got Nee-chan a present and wants to send it to her as soon as possible, these people just weren’t getting the hint. 

“Bind the Heart.” Floyd whispered, not letting any of those fools hear him.

As soon as he cast the spell, the hair arrows swerved away from him and pierced all the other people in the room. Floyd made sure it would be fatal. Soon, all of them except the hair man and the old man were bleeding out on the floor. The hair man managed to stop the hairs that were coming for him while the old man bled out on his bed.

“Hahaha! You’re still alive! This is getting boring, can you hurry up and die? I’m not in the mood anymore.” Floyd said as he walked towards the hair man, crushing the skulls of the fallen people as he did so.

“W-what did you do?! How?! I read your file, your quirk is a Transformation Type Quirk, how did you do this?! Moray eels cannot do this!” The hair man yelled as he took a step back in fear, “M-Monster!”

“Huh? Monster?” Floyd asked, reciting another show reference, “Oh I am much, much worse than your average monster. I… am your worse nightmare. I… am the harbinger of your death.”

Floyd bared his sharp teeth at the ice man like the villain did in the show and the hair man fainted. 

“Hahaha!” Floyd erupted in laughter, “You should have seen your face! Haha! Since you made me happy again, I guess I’ll let you live. I think I remember Azul saying something about you so I doubt he’d mind if I take you with me too.”

Floyd picked up the hair man in one arm and the little girl in the other arm. He used another spell to remove any evidence that would point to him and texted Jade to get someone to erase the security footage and send someone to pick him up. He also sent a picture of what he was bringing back.

As soon as the picture was marked as Read, Azul called him.

“What do you want, Azul?” Floyd asked impatiently.

“What do I want? What do I want?! You can't just take two people back with you! Sure, the little girl is fine since I did tell you not to hurt anyone innocent but the other guy is Chronostasis!”

“So?” Floyd asked, he recognized the name enough to know he heard it before but not enough to know why Azul was yelling.

“Kurono Hari works under the alias of Chronostasis, he is the Right-Hand man of Overhaul, also known as Chisaki Kai. He is known to be very loyal to Chisaki, who I assume you have killed.

“Yep.” Floyd nodded, “He made me laugh so he gets to live.”

“... I’ll find a way to deal with this.” Azul sighed, “Just… just come back and don’t cause any more trouble. Don’t forget to get rid of the barrier.”

“M’kay~”

Floyd hung up the phone and waited for his pick-up. He took a good look at the little girl that would be his little sister. She had bluish, off-white hair, messy and unkempt, which is parted in the middle of her forehead, almost reaching down to her waist. Floyd remembered that she had scared, bright red eyes. She also has a small brown horn poking out from the right side of her forehead. Maybe it's related to her quirk?

She was wearing a plain, short-sleeved dress, which is a dirty, pale tan colour. Bandages are wrapped around both her arms and legs, stopping at her wrists and ankles. Floyd knows that underneath the bandages, she has numerous scars.

Whatever, she will have a much better life as Nee-chan’s little sister. She’ll forgive them for kidnapping her soon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Floyd beamed up at Nee-chan who just blinked at him. Floyd didn’t know why Nee-chan was looking at him like that instead of welcoming him back like she usually does. He even changed his clothes and took a bath and everything! There’s no blood on him so why was she looking at him so weirdly?

Nee-chan took a sip of her coffee, “Flo-kun. Please tell me why you have two people under your arms?”

“Presents!”

Nee-chan nodded, “Unless it involves me, please bother Azz-kun. I’m just going to go to my room. It’s so convenient to come here instead of home, thank you for letting me crash in your hideout whenever I want.”

Floyd watched as Nee-chan left for her room. Well, she’ll get the news about her new younger sister tomorrow if Azul agrees so no need to tell her right now. They were going to wake up soon.

“I’m back!” Floyd declared, pushing the door open and walking into Azul’s office where he was doing boring paperwork with Jade.

“Welcome back, Floyd. Good job on your work and I see that you have brought back souvenirs.” Jade smiled, “I saw the photo you sent but seeing them in person is a whole new experience.”

Jade helped Floyd arrange bigger fish on the floor so that he would be kneeling in front of Azul’s desk but still able to see Azul and put the smaller fish on the couch. Only the big fish was tied up since he was most likely to fight back; however, both the big fish and the small fish had Quirk Suppressing Bracelets on. For the big fish, it’s because they can’t tie up his hair in a way that would stop it from attacking. For the small fish, it’s because none of them wanted to be reversed out of existence. 

Floyd was very proud of himself when he made them. He was a genius so it wasn’t hard at all but Azul let him do some fun stuff when he showed them to him. Jobs that weren’t as fun as the one he just went on but fun nonetheless.

Soon the big fish started waking up. It took him a moment to remember what happened to him and for him to realize where he was but he managed. His eyes were wide open as he stared up at Azul. This was one smart fishy, he didn’t even try to pretend to faint. That would have been so boring.

It was funny the first few times since he could tease them but they do it so much that Floyd got bored of it. 

At this point in time, Azul turned on the TV he installed in the room. As soon as he turned it on, the news started playing.

“ Attention! We bring the shocking news of a massacre that happened in the city! The Yakuza Group Shie Hassaikai has been completely whipped out! Everyone is dead, from both the Boss and Acting Boss who were found in an underground escape route to the pet fish found floating belly up in their tank. Heroes and police alike are investigating the gruesome scene but have yet to turn up anything concrete. Was this the work of a Villain with a grudge against the Yazuka or are the Yakuza in the middle of a return? If it is a return, was this some kind of turf war? Until we know for sure, everyone please stay safe and tell your local Pro Hero or policemen about any suspicious people! Stay tuned for further information .”

The news didn’t go into details but it didn’t matter. Azul and Jade both knew how he worked and the big fish was there so there was no need to talk about that. The news then decided to cover some no-name hero's first big accomplishment so Azul turned off the TV and focused on the big fish.

“Why… why am I still alive?” The big fish asked, his face filled with despair, “You killed everyone else, you even killed the Boss and Acting Boss, so why did you keep me alive?”

Azul gave him an unfriendly smirk, “What do you think?”

The big fish paled, Floyd didn’t know he could do that since he was already so pale, “I heard that Floyd-san desires despair, that he likes watching all hope leave the eyes of his victims, am I only alive so Floyd could play?”

Floyd watched as Azul’s intimidating facade faltered for a moment. Not enough for the big fish to catch but enough for him and Jade to see. Floyd wondered why?

“Who told you this?”

“He was screaming it while killing everyone.”

“... No. Floyd just decided to roleplay while doing a job. As for why you’re alive… Floyd, why did you let him stay alive?”

“Aww… but that’s boring, can’t he just guess?”

“No. Just answer the question.”

“I don’t wanna. Can I leave?”

“Floyd, answer the question! I, too, want to know why you decided to take a prisoner. The little girl I can understand since she is but a child but this guy?” Azul asked.

“Eri!” The big fish exclaimed as he started looking around the room frantically, only relaxing when he saw the small fish.

“The little girl is fine, just knocked out.” Jade said.

“He made me laugh.” Floyd smiled guilelessly.

“I see…” Azul sighed before turning to the big fish, “Anyway, since you’re alive, we might as well put you to use.”

Floyd didn’t know or care what Azul was going to do to the big fish. All he did care about was getting to the part where Azul would say that the small fish was their new little sister. Azul already agreed through text so he just had to say it verbally and complete the paperwork and it’s official.

Chapter Text

Eri didn’t know what to think. She was only four, almost five, but even she knew that her life shouldn’t have changed so much in so short of time. Up until a few months ago, she was living happily with her mom and dad. 

However, everything changed when her quirk appeared and killed her dad. Everything became so horrible after that.

Her mom, horrified, sent her to her grandpa’s. After doing a bunch of tests, they found out that her quirk could turn back time on things and that she killed her dad by turning back his time until she ended up erasing his existence. 

Grandpa didn’t care but then Grandpa got sick and went to sleep. That’s when Kai took over and things got even worse. He started off nice, just asking her to do this and that, asking her to let them take a bit of blood so she wouldn’t get sick and stuff like that but he got so much meaner. He started strapping her to the chair and taking more and more blood, so much that she even died until her quirk could rewind her death and he would do it all over again. It hurt so much.

Then. Something happened. Eri didn’t know what happened but suddenly, she was taken from her cage and pulled along by Kai into an escape route. She didn’t know why but she didn’t care much. It meant that today’s blood-taking wasn’t going to happen and that was all Eri needed to know.

Even so, it was really scary. She was put on a leash that Kai held onto and she wasn’t allowed to get off of the bed Grandpa was riding. Suddenly, the door they locked behind them opened, and in came a tall, bloody boy with very sharp teeth. Eri was scared of the boy (boy because she remembered him saying he was fourteen years old before she completely blacked out, and fourteen years old is still considered a boy) because he was covered in blood and something was telling her to run away. However, if she tried to run, Kai might make the blood-taking even more painful so she couldn’t run. 

Eri doesn’t know if she was lucky or not when she blacked out. On one hand, she didn’t need to think anymore, on the other hand, she didn’t know what would happen to her next or if she would ever wake up. Thankfully, she did wake up. When she woke up, she was lying down on a couch in a really pretty room, one that reminded her of her grandpa’s office, and saw Hari-san tied up, kneeling on the floor beside her.

“Hari-san…?” Eri spoke up softly.

Immediately, Hari-san turned his head toward her. The look on his face wasn’t a look she was familiar with. Hari-san always looked calm and collected, as if he didn’t care about anything or anyone that wasn’t Kai. Right now, he was looking at her like she was Kai. Like she was something precious and something that he needed to protect. 

Did she die? Is this heaven? Hari-san would never look at her like this so maybe that boy killed her?

“Hey~ the small fish is away! A-ha!” A cheerful voice exclaimed.

Eri turned her head and came face to face with the boy who caused Something. If he was around then that means she probably wasn’t dead. Without the blood, he looked a lot nicer so he wasn’t as scary.

“Stay away from her!” Hari-san yelled in panic.

It’s so strange hearing Hari-san be scared on her behalf. Usually, he didn’t care about her so long as she was alive and mostly healthy.

“Ne, ne.” The boy said, putting his face near hers, causing her to lean back, “I took you from your old family so now you’re mine! I want to give you to Nee-chan as her little sister, don’t worry, you get food, water, a nice Nee-chan, and whatever you want! Just ask Azul! All you need to do is say you wanna stay with us!”

“...Huh?” Eri couldn’t understand.

“What are you doing?!” Hari-san yelled, “Stop! Make him stay away from Eri! I’ll do anything just not Eri!”

“Oya, why are you so protective of her all of a sudden?” Someone asked, Eri turned her head and gasped, there was another boy who looked exactly like the cheery boy, “From our information, you couldn’t care less about her while she was undergoing experiments, many of which we explicitly told you to stop.”

“She’s the only thing I have left of Kai…! And you wouldn’t understand, what we were doing would have put the Yakuza back at the top of the food chain! Kai’s dream would have come true if you haven’t-”

“Put the Yakuza back at the top of the food chain?” Another voice asked, Eri looked and saw it was a boy with white-ish hair like hers, “That’s funny. The Octavinelle Group has already taken over all of Japan’s underworld and Asia’s underworld.”

“W-what?” Hari-san asked.

“Slowly, I have been taken over the underworld. Not just the Yakuza and Triads, but also those labelled as villains. Keeping in touch with the groups of villains that aren’t a part of the Yakuza, gradually extended my reach. Within the next year or two, I will control the entire underworld and with that, the world.” The white-haired boy said those words with such confidence that Eri believed him.

“Basically~ everything you did was useless! The Boss being put in a coma to stop you from going through with your plan, all the pain you put little Eri-chan through, the lives lost earlier today, everything was useless!” The cheery boy laughed, “Isn’t it funny? Hahaha! I can’t stop laughing!”

Eri flinched back and started shaking. The boy wasn’t lying. He really did find it funny. Eri had always thought what she was going through didn’t make sense, it might be normal to her but it didn’t make sense. Kai never told her why she had to go through all that but he did say it was for a good cause. However, being told that it was actually for nothing somehow made Eri feel really, really bad.

Eri didn’t know what she was feeling but she knew that it was worse than any other feeling she has ever felt.

“Hey! Stop that! I know I have no place to say this but please, make him stop!”

The white-haired man just sighed, “No one can control Floyd. Floyd does whatever Floyd wants. He wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do.”

“You give a lot of freedom to your subordinate.”

“And you have an awfully lot of confidence for someone in your position.” Floyd’s look-a-like said with a scary smile that caused Hari-san to freeze and pale.

“As for why I give Floyd so much freedom is for two reasons. The first is because he is a genius. He can do everything perfectly so long as he is in the mood and because he can do that, he gets all the freedom he wants. As for the second, less important reason, he is my brother, my triplet.”

“T-Triplet?” Eri squeaked as her eyes bounced between Floyd, his look-a-like, and the white-haired boy.

The surprise temporarily made her forget about her very bad feeling. Before her mind could go back, Floyd nodded.

“Yep, and you are going to be our little sister!” Floyd cheered, lifting her up and spinning her around.

Eri froze, she didn’t know what to do. She was scared. What Floyd said was nice and innocent but he also said all those things so positively that Eri didn’t know what to think. Eri wanted to get down.

Suddenly, a thought came to her. What if her quirk suddenly activated and killed Floyd? The other two would kill her!

“S-Stop!” Eri yelled with tears in her eyes, “I-I don’t have control of my quirk! If I lose control you would-”

“We already know about your quirk, why else do you think you’re wearing that bracelet?” 

Eri didn’t know who said that but she immediately looked down at her wrists and saw that there was a bracelet.

“Isn’t it pretty?” Floyd asked with a smile, placing her down on his lap, “I made it myself! It’s a Quirk Suppressing Bracelet, as long as you wear it, you can’t use your quirk! It doesn’t work on Mutant Types for obvious reasons but isn’t it amazing!”

Eri looked down at the bracelet and touched it as if it would disappear any second. Tears fell from her eyes. With this on, she would never kill anyone again. She wouldn’t need to be scared of making anyone hate her as her mother did.

“If…” Eri whispered, “If I agree… can I keep the bracelet?”

“Huh? You want that?” Floyd asked sounding confused, “Why would you want that?”

“What Floyd meant is that he’ll make you a better one.” The white-haired one said, “This one restricts quirk usage completely, I’ll make you one where it only restricts uncontrolled quirk usage. It’s not safe to not know how to use your quirk properly and you may one day be able to use it to your advantage.”

Eri didn’t understand. She could hear Hari-san protesting but she really didn’t care. As long as she can stop her quirk from hurting anyone, she didn’t care what she had to do so long as it didn’t hurt anyone either. 

Besides, it couldn’t possibly be worse than when Kai took her blood, right?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somedays, Eri wondered if Floyd-niisan was her Fairy Godfather or Fairy Godbrother while she was his Cinderella, like in the Fairy Tales Nee-chan would read her every night. On other days, Eri wondered if Floyd-niisan was some kind of devil that was pretending to be normal so he could one day eat Nee-chan’s soul.

Even though she was five years old now and has been staying with the Aikawa’s for months, it was really scary how Floyd-niisan could be happily styling her hair in ways Eri didn’t know was possible to pulling on it so hard that she would start tearing up. He would then make fun of her until Nee-chan came back to save her. Nee-chan would scold Floyd-niisan who would apologize and take her out for ice cream.

Nee-chan told her that Floyd-niisan wouldn’t hurt her too badly because he liked her and that it was his way of being family. Nee-chan also told her that she could punch Floyd-niisan back whenever she wanted if he deserved it. 

If Eri didn’t know that Nee-chan had a Transformation Type Quirk that turns her into a Red Lionfish Mermaid, Eri would have thought that Nee-chan had a quirk that makes people around her feel calm. There was no other reason than that would make her new older brothers listen to Nee-chan as much as they do. 

Hari-san muttered something about witchcraft but when Jade-niisan heard, Hari-san disappeared for a little bit. When Eri asked where he went, Hari-san paled and muttered that he didn’t want to think about it.

Eri was sitting in front of her vanity as Floyd-niisan did her hair for the morning. It was still amazing to Eri that she got such a big room for herself and she didn’t need to do anything for it. Not even chores!

The room was really, really big to Eri and she got the entire room to herself. The only thing Nee-chan said was that she had to make sure that it wasn’t a mess because no one would clean it for her. 

Hari-san and Nee-chan were the ones who were her main caretakers with Floyd-niisan, Jade-niisan, and Azul-niisan dropping in whenever they have time. The other workers also helped from time to time but they were usually too busy to play with her when it wasn’t on Azul-niisan’s orders.

“Ouch!” Eri yelped, it seems like Floyd-niisan was in one of his moods.

“Haha! Don’t move Small Fish.” Floyd-niisan laughed, “I’m just trying to make this look good, if you move it will hurt more!”

Eri winched. The hair-pulling wasn’t very painful and she was getting used to it but it still stung. 

“Why am I still called Small Fish?”

She didn’t know why Floyd-niisan insisted on calling her Small Fish instead of using her name, she heard that everyone that wasn’t family got a nickname while those who were family got called their names. Nee-chan insisted that Floyd-niisan saw her as a little sister but even she didn’t know why Floyd-niisan wasn’t calling her by name.

“Huh? Small Fish is Small Fish.” Floyd-niisan said in a matter-a-fact manner.

“But why- ouch!”

“Smal Fish hasn’t earned her name yet. Azul, Jade, and Nee-chan earned their names so you do too. Either that or you get a nickname like everyone else.”

“But how?”

“I’m not gonna help you. Figure it out yourself.” Floyd-niisan said mercilessly before he went back to ignoring her in favour of her hair.

Eri didn’t know what came over her at this moment. Whether it was because she got braver while under the guidance of Nee-chan, Floyd-niisan accidentally pulled out her brain cells while pulling on her hair, or maybe it was the pain making her crazy, but she wanted to punch Floyd-niisan. She turned around as quickly as she could and punched him in the stomach as hard as she could. When she realized what she did, Eri started to panic.

”S-sorry!” Eri squeaked as Floyd-niisan’s face went blank, “I-I didn’t know what I was thinking! I’m so sorry! I-”

“Hahahahaha!” Floyd-niisan started laughing uncontrollably, “What kind of punch was that?! I thought the Hairy Frogfish was teaching you to punch! That was weak and the way you curled your fist was wrong!”

Eri stopped being scared and panicked and instead became a bit angry. She punched him with everything she had and he ends up laughing?!

Eri huffed. It was times like this that she wondered why she was always so scared of Floyd-niisan.

However, she was a bit upset that Floyd-niisan was saying Hari-san was a bad teacher. He was the best teacher! It took Eri a long time to get used to how Hari-san was treating her now but she grew to love him. Eri heard from one of the workers in the building that Azul-niisan did something to put Hari-san under his control, which was why he was being so nice but Eri would like to think that he liked her now.

Eri wondered how Azul-niisan could put someone under his control when he also had a Transformation Type Quirk like Nee-chan, except he is a black octopus. Jade-niisan said that Hari-san had just signed a binding contract that he couldn’t break and that Hari-san was just exaggerating things but Eri wasn’t sure. She wanted to know but Hari-san said she also didn’t want to know. 

As Eri was lost in thought, Floyd-niisan stood back and continued doing her hair. He was still snickering but Eri wasn’t listening to him anymore.

“Well, Eri-chan, what do you think?” Floyd-niisan asked as he took a step back.

Eri’s breath hitched. Her hair was put into a really pretty braided upsweep but that wasn’t why she stopped breathing. Normally, Eri would be in awe that her messy hair was able to look like that but it was different this time. This time, Floyd-niisan called her by her name. He called her Eri.

She was officially part of the family.

“Aww, are you gonna cry?” Floyd-niisan teased.

“You’re horrible.” Eri declared as she jumped from her chair and into Floyd-niisan’s arms and buried her face into his chest.

Eri knew that Floyd-niisan killed a lot of people, everyone except Nee-chan killed at least once (at least, Eri thinks Nee-chan didn't kill anyone yet), but Eri didn’t care. Even if Floyd-niisan killed her grandpa, he also saved him from all the pain Kai put her through. He is both a killer and her saviour. Savior because when she tried to call him her hero, Floyd-niisan said he didn’t like heroes. 

Azul-niisan and Nee-chan sat her down and told her all about the world. Even Hari-san joined in. They told her about how the world seems to look and work before telling her how the world actually works. Eri didn’t really understand much about it but she did understand that the world was wrong and that Azul-niisan wanted to make it better.

Or he wanted to make it less annoying to him, Eri wasn’t sure yet.

When Hari-san asked Nee-chan about this, Nee-chan just laughed and said that Azul-niisan could do whatever he wanted so long as he was happy and he wouldn’t get hurt. After that, Hari-san just stared at the wall for an hour and muttered something about not understanding this family.

Either way, even though her new family was a bunch of criminals (not villains because they didn't use their quirks for their crimes) that were going to take over the world, really crazy, and does very illegal things that Eri knows they were doing but doesn’t know what they were doing, she was happy.

As Floyd-niisan laughed the laugh she had grown to love, Eri felt herself smile for the first time in a long time.

Chapter Text

Azul looked down at the paper Jade had just handed him. The information on the paper was rather annoying if Azul was being honest. Based on the report Jade gave him, he was being played a fool by someone else. This was something Azul couldn’t stand for. He needed to correct this oversight as soon as possible.

“What’s got you so worked up, Azul?” Floyd asked as he barged into Azul’s office and flopped onto the couch with the grace of an elephant.

“It seems like I haven’t taken over the entire underworld as I thought.” Azul said with grated teeth, “It’s more like I took over half of the entire underworld. There is someone else who rules the other half.”

“Hahahaha!” Floyd burst out laughing, “You worked for around ten years to get the entire world under your heel and you just find out you only got half? Hahaha!”

“Shut up, Floyd. I’m not in the mood.” Azul ordered before turning to Jade, “Go over the information verbally, I’m too frustrated to read.”

“Of course.” Jade nodded as he poured Azul another cup of tea.

According to Jade, the ruler of the other half of the underworld is someone who calls himself All For One, his real name is Shigaraki Tomura and he has been alive for around two hundred years. Why he decided to have an English Alias while in Japan was beyond Azul. He doesn’t use his birth name, instead, he has chosen a successor who is currently using that name.

His successor’s birth name is Shimura Tenko, grandson of the seventh user of One For All, a quirk that has been passed down through the generations for the sole purpose of defeating All For One. They want to defeat him because he was planning to take over the world and rule it like a king.

“Sounds like one of Nee-chan’s movie plot lines.” Floyd commented.

“Ridiculous. I would like to say I can’t believe that there was someone that stupid with a goal like that could even exist but, unfortunately, this world is just as foolish.” Azul scoffed as he told Jade to continue.

Due to his quirk, he was able to take away the quirks of others and either give them to someone else or keep it to himself. Since he started his climb to power during the Chaos Era of Quirks, he gained many quirks and many followers. He was revered by the people in hushed voices because he could take away their quirks when quirks were despised and discriminated against. 

“It is probably because of that that he gained a God Complex and has decided to take over the world.”

“Honestly, the World Domination Trope is so overdone.” Nee-chan said as she sipped her cup of tea.

“Yes, I agree.” Kurono nodded, “Do you want more?”

“Yes, please and thank you, Hari-san.” Nee-chan said as Kurono poured more tea into Nee-chan’s cup.

“Wait a second!” Azul yelled as he stood up and slammed his hand on his desk, “When did you two get here?! Nee-chan! Kurono-san!”

Nee-chan was sitting on the couch that Floyd wasn’t on with Kurono sitting beside her with a teapot. She took a long sip of her tea and placed it down on the table. In Azul’s opinion, she was too relaxed.

“I came here to tell you that Eri-chan has decided to go to school next year instead of homeschooling. Since she is six years old now, can keep secrets, and has that bracelet to help control her quirk, I agreed.” Nee-chan smiled, “On the official papers, however, we will say her quirk is Vanishing.”

Kurono nodded as he placed down the teapot, “As one of Eri’s main caretakers and Yua-san’s bodyguard, I came here as well.”

Azul’s face stiffened, “Okay. But I didn’t ask why you’re here, I asked when did you get here.”

“Around the time you started complaining about a Japanese man using English words strung together to make an alias. You were very vocal about that, Azz-kun. Drink some more tea to calm down, it's Jasmine.”

“Calm down?! You just told me you were here the whole time!”

“Hahaha! Even Nee-chan is teasing you!” Floyd laughed.

“Flo-kun! I am not teasing Azz-kun.” Nee-chan denied but Azul could see the slight tremor in her lips.

Azul gave up his sophisticated Boss esthetic and slumped down. First, it was the everyday Floyd antics, then it was finding out that he was basically scammed, and now it seems like everyone, even Nee-chan, was conspiring to make his life miserable. Azul just wanted to make the headaches stop.

Suddenly, he felt heat from behind him and a familiar hand patting his head. A familiar hum interrupted his thoughts and calmed him down. At least Azul could count on the fact that no matter how much of a teasing mood Nee-chan was in, she would always comfort him when things got too much.

“Seeing the big boss himself act like a child in front of his big sister is always surprising. At least it isn’t as scary as watching Floyd-san going from murderous monster to harmless puppy when Yua-san calls his name.” Kurono commented.

“A-ya? Does the Hairy Frogfish not want to live anymore?”

“I apologize.”

Azul took a moment to soak up the calmness Nee-chan always exudes before sitting back up.

“Jade, continue. Nee-chan, are you and Kurono-san going to stay?”

“Do you want us to stay?”

Azul hasn’t seen Nee-chan since she wrapped up the last movie so he nodded, “Then please make sure Kurono-san doesn’t end up being killed by Floyd.”

“Of course.” Nee-chan smiled, “If I did, you would be stuck cleaning Hari-san’s blood off of your couch. I don’t want you to be stuck doing something that’s such a hassle. You are already so busy.”

Kurono made a face but didn’t say anything. Azul would bet against Jade that he was complaining about the only reason he wasn’t allowed to die was that it wasn’t worth the effort to clean the aftermath.

Azul ignored Kurono in favour of listening to Jade explain the rest of the information their people have gathered.

It seems that the users of One For All originated from All For One’s younger brother. It was a really rare quirk that has the ability to be passed down from one person to the next, slowly building up its power.

“My guess is that All For One chose to have Shimura as his successor because it would devastate the Seventh User as well as the Eight and current User of One For All. Psychological torture on a minor scale.” Jade remarked, “Especially since we have reason to believe that All For One found a way to transfer his quirk and consciousness onto his successor which would only cause more heartache.”

“So who’s the current user of One For All?” Floyd asked.

“The current Number One Hero, All Might.” Jade said casually.

Kurono spat out the tea he was drinking. He better cleans up the mess he made. 

“Huh? Hari-san, are you okay?” Nee-chan asked as she patted his back, “You’re usually so composed, so is anything wrong?”

“Is, is anything wrong?! Do you not hear anything wrong is what your brother just tell you?! Nothing at all?!” Kurono yelled hysterically. 

If Azul looked into Kurono’s eyes, he was sure that he could see feelings of madness dancing in his irises.

“Ara ara, it seems like Hari-san has fallen sick.” Nee-chan sighed as she rested one of her hands on her cheek, looking worried, “Don’t worry, Hari-san. I’ll nurse you back to health myself.”

“Nee-chan~” Floyd whined, “Don’t flirt with the contract slave!”

“Well, with Eri-chan gone, what else is he good for?” Nee-chan asked mercilessly.

Azul would tell that Kurono was dying on the inside. Well, the contract he signed was perfect and would result in various punishments should he break any of the codes, conditions, rules, and regulations. 

Ah, the beauty of magical contracts.

“Jade, what is the status of the relationship between All For One and All Might?”

“There was a skirmish that left All Might very injured. According to the information we got from his medical scans, we can estimate that he will retire within the next few years, five years is the absolute limit but two years is more realistic. As for All For One, he was also very injured but is most likely better off than All Might thanks to the healing and longevity quirks he has stolen.”

“Can we go back to the fact that All Might’s quirk isn’t his own quirk and that he is going to retire soon? Please? My mind can’t keep up…” Azul vaguely heard Kurono mutter as he buried his head in his hands.

“Jade, can you set up a meeting with All For One?” Azul asked as an unpleasant smile made its way onto his face, “I think it’s time to pay him a visit.”

“Of course, will Floyd and I be accompanying you?”

“Naturally. As soon as that meeting is over, my greatest ambition will finally be realized!”

“Don’t get hurt, Azz-kun. Be careful.”

Before Azul could say anything Kurono spoke up, “So what’s the difference between what you want and what All For One want? I mean, you both want world domination so aren’t you both the same.”

“Do not compare us to that idiot with a Gox Complex.” Azul snapped, “What he wants is to rule over the world like a king for the rest of eternity. What we want is to change the laws and gradually transform the people in this society into ones that can think for themselves again instead of blindly trusting the Pro Heroes, media, and their own biases. Honestly, how our species is still alive amazes me to no end, it's so annoying!”

Azul huffed and took out a pen and notebook. He tested out if magic could be affected by quirks while the new hero Eraserhead and it turns out that quirks have no effect on magic while magic works on quirks. So between his magic, All For One and One For All’s centuries-old rivalry, and the knowledge of All For One’s God Complex, Azul was sure he could make a foolproof plan. 

"So he wants world domination, because he wants to change the world that annoys him..." Kurono muttered, sounding insane.

“Don’t get too excited Azz-kun. Remember, simple plans are just as good as complex plans.”

“Of course, Nee-chan. I’ll keep that in mind.”

All he needed to do was write it down, go over it with Jade (and Floyd when he was in the mood), and execute it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Azul looked out the window of the car that was driving them to the meeting location he and All For One agreed on. It was raining heavily and there weren’t any other cars driving in the area. Earlier, Floyd made a comment about it being a cliche movie moment about back-alley deals which caused him to end up in a fistfight with Jade in the back seat. Last Azul checked, they were still at it.

All For One had said that, due to injuries, he wouldn’t be meeting them in a public place or the usual meeting location, so they were going to his hideout to meet with him. However, Azul doubts that someone as long living as All For One would risk even a hideout with a possibly hostile variable. So it was likely that they were going to meet in some disposable place that doesn’t matter.

Suddenly, his seat was kicked and the car swerved, “Jade! Floyd! Stop it, I don’t want to crash!”

“Fufufu, apologies, Azul. It won’t happen again.” Jade’s voice rang out from behind him, so it was his fault.

“Promise no fighting in the car.” Floyd’s voice added he sounded too disappointed about this decision. 

“Whatever.” Azul sighed as he turned into the underground parking of an innocuous building, “Let’s go.”

They exited the car and went to the elevator. Azul thanked his magic that he made sure not even Floyd could dirty his outfit before they got here. The elevator moved on its own, taking them lower and lower underground. 

“This is taking too long.” Floyd whined.

“Patience, Floyd. You know what’s going to happen.” Jade reminded Floyd.

Actually, Jade reminded Floyd that they used a similar tactic. They make the elevator ride seem long to build tension and make their level of nervousness even higher. No matter, they were here now. The elevator doors opened and revealed a large open space with a single chair facing a man sitting near a bunch of machines.

“Welcome, guests.” All For One greeted, “Apologies for the poor reception, I do get very few guests after all.”

Azul gave All For One his Polite Business Smile TM , “It’s no problem at all! After all, we are partly to blame for the rushed meeting.”

“Yes, well, I agreed to have this meeting so soon so allow me to apologize.” The faceless man smiled, “I was a bit eager to meet you. It’s not every day that I meet such a young Yakuza Boss who has taken over half of the underworld in such a short period of time. Not to mention the fact that you managed to track me down and contact me so quickly! Not even All Might had managed to find me. I’m really impressed.”

“Hahaha, surely you must be joking.” Azul gave a fake laugh that sounded genuine, Nee-chan would never sit for her siblings to be horrible actors, “I doubt I am better than All Might, it must be because you hid so well in the beginning that he assumed that it wouldn’t be worth the trouble tracking you down so soon after he got so injured. As for your previous comment, I would like to thank you. However, I don’t think what I did was that impressive, I am merely a bit more ambitious than other bosses.”

“More than a bit more ambitious than other bosses, I’d say.” All For One chuckled as he gestured to the seat in front of him, “Please, take a seat. There’s only one chair so the other two have to stand, unfortunately.”

“Of course.”

Azul confidently walked to the chair and sat down on it as if it was a throne crafted with gold made for him. He had already checked it with magic so he knew it was safe to sit on and free of traps.

“So, forgive this old man but I would like to know why you contacted me.” All For One asked, “I mean, there has to be something if you decided to contact me directly instead of other means.”

Azul smiled, “I’m sure you, of all people, know what it means to chase your own desires. To go after them no matter the cost?”

All For One decided to humour him, “It’s how I got here after all. Though, I did underestimate All Might and his desire to meddle in things. An oversight on my part.”

“You see, it is my ambition to control the entire underworld. I want to change the laws, specifically, the ones relating to quirks. I’m too young to be a politician and my own lineage would make it improbable that I would be able to do things the legal way so I decided to go this way.”

“Changing the outdated Quirk Laws, a noble endeavour.” All For One complimented, “I did not expect that.”

“Noble?” Floyd laughed, “You don’t know Azul at all!”

“Oh?”

“Unfortunately, I want to change the laws for my own gain.” Azul said, an unpleasant smile appearing on his face, “Don’t you agree the world would be much more… ah… free… if we change a couple of laws here and there? That the illusionary might of heroes would weaken a bit?”

“Weaken?”

“Yes. I won’t go into details but I’m sure you can understand.”

“Of course.”

Azul doubts All For One understands. 

Azul wanted the people to see that the Pro Heroes they revere as beings akin to gods weren’t as infallible as they appear to be. Azul wanted them to start thinking for themselves, stop blindly listening to anything they hear, and stop relying on heroes. To start being decent people again.

All For One would probably think he meant the rise of the Yakuza or something along those lines.

“So, I contacted you to see if you would like to have a little wager.”

“A wager?” All For One asked sounding intrigued.

“Yes, a wager.”

“What would this wager entail?”

Azul pushed up his glasses, “Nothing big. I know you’re planning to confront All Might again this year so I would like to place a little bet.”

“And what would the winner get?”

“Well, I want to control the entire underworld so…”

All For One laughed, “Hahahaha! Youth these days, so brazen! Fine, depending on the terms of the wager, I’ll agree to give you what I control. However, should I win, you and everyone who works under you will work for me.”

“Seems fair enough.” Azul smiled, “Bear in mind, I will add death as a possible end result for the loser of the contract. Naturally, I will not be able to kill you since even All Might couldn’t accomplish that so your death is not what I aim for, it is merely something I add to every contract I make.”

“I am well aware of that. You are not the only one who can do research.” 

“Of course. Jade.” 

Azul handed the explanation stuff to Jade as he took a sip out of the water bottle Floyd passed to him. Jade explained that they would write down what they bet would happen after the battle between All For One and All Might on the back of some paper and file it away somewhere safe. When the battle is over, they will meet again to see who got the right answer. Should one party fail to meet on the chosen day, no matter who won the actual bet, that party would get a penalty. 

“This is much more simplistic and riskier than I would have expected from you.” All For One said as he took out a pen.

“Well, some of the best plans are best when they're simple, and what’s life without a bit of risk to it?” Azul asked as he slid him a piece of paper and two contracts, “You don’t need to sign your real name, your alias is enough.”

All For One huffed in amusement, “I agree. Don’t worry about losing, you’re smart, I’ll keep you around.”

All For One glanced over both contracts and signed his alias on them. They then wrote their predictions at the same time and made sure the other person wouldn’t see their answer before Azul took his copy of the contract and stood to leave. They gave each other superficial goodbyes before Azul, Jade, and Floyd were allowed to leave. The ride up to their car was in complete silence.

They were still silent as they drove away from the building. It was still raining heavily like the rain wanted to drown out everything.

“Floyd.”

“Already done, Azul.”

“Good.” Azul sighed as he loosened his necktie, his need to breathe was stronger than his fixation on the gentlemanly image he wishes to portray.

“That was the most exhilarating thing that has happened since we landed in this strange world.” Jade sighed dreamily, “It was wonderful.”

“Only you would think talking in a room would be fun, Jade. So weird.” Floyd declared.

“Fufufu, you just don’t understand, Floyd. It was a battle of wits.”

“Well, I’m wittier than everyone in that room so it was boring.”

Azul just sighed and focused on driving back to one of the lesser hideouts. They would stay there for a few days to get any All For One trail off of them before making their way to the hideout Nee-chan and Eri spend some of their time in.

For now, Azul would soak up the feeling of calmness as he listened to Jade and Floyd bicker. As much as they get on his nerves daily, Floyd especially, they never fail to make him feel at home.

Chapter Text

Jade couldn’t wait to see the results of the bet. Well, he already knew that Azul would win but he still wanted to see the aftermath. Azul would win and All For One would die due to his own hubris.

Well, it wasn’t the whole truth but it was close. The paper that All For One wrote his answer on was one of Magic Contract, therefore, Azul knew exactly what All For One bet and can plan accordingly. All For One bet that he would kill All Might in the end. It was open-ended and vague but also has a very precise condition for his win which was perfect for the bet. Specifically, All For One would win so long as he kills All Might. He could argue he won so long as All Might dies.

However, Azul has already predicted this and made his bet very detailed in comparison to All For One’s. He bet that, after their first real fight against one another, All For One would allow himself to be captured by the authorities and be sent to Tartarus. 

“Why’dja bet that, Azul?” Floyd asked.

“Simple. Just like how he got so injured after his fight with All Might the first time, his arrogance will be the end of him.”

“That doesn’t explain anything.” Floyd pouted. 

“Fufufu, why did you write that, Azul? I’ll admit, I’m also curious.” 

“It’s obvious when one suggests a bet like the one I suggest that you would think of the end result. However, I never specified that the bet had to be how the long-lived rivalry ended, I just said how the fight would end. The fight, meaning a specific fight, not the final fight but any fight. Knowing All For One, he would allow himself to be captured only to stage a large-scale breakout.”

“Ugh, he sounds as dramatic as you.” Floyd said as he made a disgusted face, “I mean, I already knew that but ugh.”

“That large-scale breakout,” Azul repeated, ignoring Floyd, “would be used to lower the morale of Pro Heroes and the trust society has in them. He will then, most likely, take over the body of his successor and fight All Might or the eventual Ninth User of One For All since his current body doesn't seem like it will be able to hold out much longer. However, since he is planning long-term, I can win by making it so that my result would be the first to be achieved and stop him from making his bet come true. And since he will miss the meet-up, he will die.”

“So we just need to wait?” Floyd complained.

“Essentially, yes.”

“Boo.”

Azul sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I’ll send you to do some fun jobs in Dubai later, okay?”

“M’kay~”

“Well, now that we put a wager in place, I believe that All For One would probably make his moves a bit quicker. So now all we have to do is wait and keep an eye on the news.” Azul smiled.

“Ah, Azul, I got some news that you might be interested in.” Jade said.

“Oh? What is it?”

“Last week, it seems like All Might has chosen his successor. Someone no one would have guessed.”

“Who?”

“As you know, we’ve been tailing him. Both in his All Might form and in his normal Yagi Toshinori. We watched as he captured a green slime person but they escaped from him due to some circumstances. He managed to recapture them but not before watching a young boy try to save his friend from that slime person. He decided that that young boy was worthy of becoming the Ninth User of One For All. Surprisingly, it’s someone we met three years ago, the quirkless boy Midoriya Izuku.”

“Midoriya, huh?” Azul closed his eyes, “I can vaguely remember that name.”

“It’s the student you told Floyd to save disguised as a job so he would stop pestering you for a fun job three years ago.” Jade reminded Azul.

“Ah, right, him.” Azul nodded, “But why him? Didn’t you say that One For All works by stockpiling power and quirks? Midoriya has no quirk to speak of and he’s rather weak so why did All Might choose him?”

“Perhaps it’s because he’s quirkless that All Might chose him?” Jade suggested, “Maybe the power of One For All has gotten too much and only an empty vessel would be able to handle the power?”

“Maybe.”

“At any rate, he has gone to a few mixed martial arts classes over the past three years so he did take my words to heart. For now, he is irrelevant since he hasn’t actually gotten the power yet. However, All Might have informed the public that he would start teaching in UA in the next school year, the same year Midoriya would be entering UA if he gets in, so it’s a given that he will be the next user.”

“I see. And due to that, All For One would place a spy in UA to monitor the situation. He most likely doesn’t know that All Might has chosen a successor or else Midoriya and his family would already be dead in a ‘surprise’ villain attack.” Azul reasoned before smiling at the TV, “It seems we should pay more attention to news relating to UA in the near future and get our own spy into their ranks.”

“Of course. I’ll have Jiro plant someone there. A student would be for the best, perhaps in the General Education Department?”

“Yes. It would be safe and all they have to do is give us the general school gossip and the like. Low risk and they get to have an education that many citizens dream of getting, none of the new recruits would hate that.”

“Hmm… Himiko-chan would go.” Floyd spoke up.

Jade watched in delight as Azul turned to stone. After a moment, the stone started shaking and Azul came back to life.

“I should have never sent you on that extermination job.” Azul bellowed, “You come out of there dripping in blood and the one person who saw you is a girl that watched the carnage and fell in love with you!”

“Hahaha! She’s so much fun! Of course, I wouldn’t kill her.” Floyd smiled guilelessly, “We can even go on jobs together, she’ll love that!”

“At least she didn’t call the Pro Heroes or the police, seeing as she’s also labelled a villain.” Jade said, trying to help Azul see the bright side.

Personally, Jade thinks it’s good that Floyd found love, or something close enough to love. The mothers of his classmates seem to talk about wanting grandchildren most of the time, and even though Nee-chan wasn’t like those fools, she might ask if they were ever planning to date someone. Might as well let Floyd have the honour of being the token brother with a love interest.

“If only Nee-chan didn’t know about her… we could have erased that crazy girl’s memories and sent her on her way, but no, Nee-chan saw Floyd come back from his job with that girl following him and now she thinks it's cute that Floyd has an admirer who doesn’t run when he gets in his moods. It doesn’t help that Floyd, of all people, called her by name instead of a ridiculous nickname.” Azul grumbled.

At that moment, Azul’s office door swung open, and in barged the girl they were talking about. She jumped onto the couch that Floyd was sitting on, kissed him on the cheek, and cuddled into his right side.

“Hello, Floyd-kun!” Himiko smiled up at him with her crazed smile.

“Himiko-chan!” Floyd smiled back, “Didja have fun with Eri-chan?”

“Yeah! She’s so cute! It’s a little sad that she’s scared of something as pretty as blood but I’m sure I can get her to love it just as much!”

Azul sighed, “Himiko since you’re here, do you mind helping with something?”

“Sure, whatcha need?”

“You can refuse, of course. We don’t want to push you to do something you don’t want to do.” Jade reassured her, “We just need a spy to go into UA as a General Education student, you don’t need to do anything really spy-like since we just want general school gossip so it shouldn’t be that dangerous.”

Jade thought back to Himiko’s profile that he had made when she first appeared. Back when she was Toga Himiko before she threw her last name away when they asked if she wanted to keep it. She managed to act normal for years so her acting skills were decent enough to make this work if she agrees. Nee-chan would help, she has recently moved to live acting instead of just voice acting. 

“We expect this to last a year, two at most, so when things wrap up, we can say that your family is moving abroad or something like that.”

“Hmmm, okay! This might be fun!” Himiko agreed.

“Great, we’ll arrange everything.” Jade said, “We’ll need to do some changes to how you look, Nee-chan can deal with that since it’s her expertise as an actor, and we’ll need to make a backstory for you but don’t worry. Everything will be perfect.”

“I’m better than everyone so I’ll do it.” Floyd declared.

“Aww, Floyd-kun! You’ll do that for me?!” Himiko squealed, looking lovestruck with hearts in her eyes as she gazed up at Floyd.

“Of course, Himilo-chan! You’re too fun to let go!” Floyd nodded with a smile, “Don’t worry about being bored, Azul will send us out on missions on your days off!”

“Oi! Don’t make promises on my behalf!” Azul yelled.

“Too late, they’re in their own world. Ah, young love. Aren’t you happy for Floyd? To find love while so young?” Jade asked with his hands over his heart and sighed in overexaggerated dreaminess.

“Happy? No. If they ever get kids, I’ll die. Just imagining crazy, blood-obsessed, moray eel merchildren is shaving years off my life.” Azul groaned.

“Don’t worry, Azul. Despite how much he doesn’t care about society and its rules, not even Floyd would do anything until Himiko is at least of legal age.”

“So I have a minimum of four years of peace left, great.”

While Azul downed his tea, Jade turned his attention back to Himiko and Floyd. This was much better than the trash tv he usually watches when he’s bored. Jade knows Floyd and he knows that Floyd would never fall in love with someone in the traditional sense. Even if Floyd would never call his love ‘love,’ and instead just call the other person fun or interesting, he does love them. His love is bloody, chaotic, and full of uncertainties due to his mood swings, however, Floyd would never make his partner doubt that he loves them.

So Himiko was perfect for Floyd. Her love is just as bloody and chaotic, she also, for some reason, loves his mood swings and follows his whims. Due to that, Floyd is much more gentle with her. Not as gentle as he is with Nee-chan but gentle enough for everyone to see that he treats Himiko differently from everyone else. Which probably made Himiko fall for him even more after her initial infatuation at seeing him drenched in blood with a crazy look in his eyes faded a bit.

“So! So!” Himiko was vibrating in excitement, “Will you pick me up every day?!”

“If I feel like it.” Floyd nodded.

“And! And! You’ll promise to text me immediately when I text you? And pick up as soon as I call you?”

“No promises.”

Himiko turned red and suddenly became very shy, “C-Can I also… also call you my boyfriend?!”

“You can do whatever you want.”

Himiko squealed and hugged Floyd. Jade felt something hit his back so he turned back to Azul and saw that Azul was pushing an empty teapot against his back. The glare Azul was giving him was a work of art.

“Fill it up and chase them away.” Azul ordered.

“Fufufu, of course.” Jade smiled.

Jade took the teapot and walked out the door. Even if he did agree to chase Floyd and Himiko out, he never agreed to do both things at the same time. Azul would need to wait until he was done with the teapot.

Now, what quirk should Himiko have? Something that would legally allow her to drink blood on UA’s campus would be ideal.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jade followed Floyd and Nee-chan to UA when Nee-chan got an emergency call about a Villain Attack at UA. All parents and guardians of any and all students regardless of class and year group were called in to pick up their children even though class 1-A was the only class that was attacked.

Since Nee-chan was registered as Himiko’s emergency contact, the reason behind this is that Jingu Himiko’s single mother was working overseas for a while so she decided to entrust her daughter to their family because she didn’t want to uproot Himiko when it became clear Himiko didn’t want to go. She even went as far as to apply for UA and get in just so she could stay in Japan. 

Seeing her daughter’s resolve, Himiko was allowed to stay with her boyfriend’s family while her mother was away. There was a bit of talk, seeing as her boyfriend was four years older than her but, in the end, she was allowed to stay.

“Don’t cause any trouble, Flo-kun.” Nee-chan said as she followed the instructions and made her way to the pick-up area for Class 1-D.

Nee-chan was wearing a sun hat with a wide brim, dark sunglasses, and a summer scarf to disguise herself. Nee-chan was already a famous name in the voice-acting community, but now that she entered the live-acting community, her fame only grew. Unlike before, she could just walk around normally because voice actors are recognized by their voices instead of their faces. Now, however, her face is just as known as her voice so she has to go out in semi-disguise.

“Jingu Himiko. Is anyone here for Jingu Himiko?” The teachers spoke up.

Nee-chan raised her hand and Himiko rushed toward them. She ran into Floyd and they were in their own little world. Well, Floyd was probably still paying attention since he was a genius but Himiko only had Floyd in her eyes. They were about to leave like the other people but were stopped by a teacher.

“Excuse me, can the lady show her face?”

“Of course, do you have a private room?” Jade asked, “Nee-chan doesn’t like showing her face in public.”

“Sure, follow me.”

They followed the teacher, whom Jade just recognized as Present Mic, who lead them into a classroom. Once they were inside, Present Mic closed the doors and used a remote to close the blinds.

“There, so would the fair lady show her face?”

Nee-chan took off her hat, letting her long light-grey hair tumble down to her waist. She took off her sunglasses that hid her heterochromatic eyes as well as her scarf. Nee-chan then smiled at Present Mic.

“Wow! Aikawa Yua!” Present Mic yelped, “No wonder you were hiding like that! Sorry, protocol and all that.”

“It’s no trouble at all. I already knew I was probably going to be stopped at least once because of this outfit.” Nee-chan laughed, “However, I couldn’t let Himi-chan walk home after something like that. I did promise her mother I’d take care of her.”

“Mother?”

“Yeah, Jingu-san was sent abroad for work, however, Himi-chan didn’t want to leave Japan or Flo-kun. So I talked with Jingu-san so that Himi-chan can stay with us while she went to the United States.”

“Flo-kun?”

“Present Mic-sensei! Let me introduce you to my boyfriend, Aikawa Floyd!” Himiko exclaimed with a lovesick look on her face.

“B-Boyfriend?! How old is he?!” Present Mic panicked. 

“Flo-kun, the youngest of the triplets that are my little brothers, is currently eighteen. The two of them have been for a year now but they met a long time before that since she’s been going to our grandfather’s clinic for blood to drink when she gets cravings. It’s a clinic outside of his company that he used to run.” Nee-chan answered with an easy-going smile.

“She’s so young, for her to already have a boyfriend and have been going steady for a year makes me feel old.”

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen until Himi-chan is legal. However, I do believe they will get married as soon as she becomes legal so I’ll see you at the wedding?”

Jade listened as Nee-chan make small talk with Present Mic as she put back on her disguise. If Nee-chan wasn’t so invested in her work as an actress, she would have been an amazing spy. Her acting skills and people skills were top-notch. Azul bemoaned that it was a waste of talent for them not to use for Octavinelle but he respects that Nee-chan has her own ambitions she wants to chase.

“Well, I hope I’ll see you again soon, if not, I hope to hear you if you have the UA Sports Festival this year despite all this.” Nee-chan smiled.

“A collab with The Aikawa Yua? That would be a dream come true!”

“Here, have my manager’s card. Call if you want, we can try to set something up.”

“Don’t mind if I do!”

Jade didn’t miss the fact that Present Mic dodged the question about hosting the Sports Festival or not. It seems that it wouldn’t be long now. All For One will make his mood soon, sometime this year if Jade had to guess. Jade’s smile grew sharper, they were going to get some very entertaining news shortly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jade went with Floyd to watch the UA Sports Festival under Azul’s orders because Floyd wasn’t trusted to be in a place so filled with Pro Heroes and Pro Hero hopefuls without some kind of chaperone. They didn’t need Floyd to be slapped with the Villain Label and sent to prison when they have a plan in motion. Even though he’ll get out because of the fact he has a ‘mental condition’ that would excuse him, it was better to be safe than sorry.

“I wish Himiko-chan could win. She’d be so happy with a shiny gold metal.” Floyd said as they made their way through the crowds.

“She would.” Jade nodded, “But there are those kids from the Hero Course, especially the ones in Class 1-A.”

It wasn’t like Himiko is unable to win. In fact, she might be the best there is in this little competition. However, they couldn’t have her draw attention to herself so she was told not to get further than the second event. She pouted but she got better when Floyd promised to go on an official date with her.

According to Himiko who gushed about it endlessly, it would be a trip to the amusement park at noon and then dinner at a fancy restaurant that Azul reluctantly placed a reservation at. After dinner, they would go and massacre a child trafficking ring before cleaning up and eating ice cream under the moonlight.

Jade passively watched the events play out in front of him. Truth be told, he thinks that this entire situation was being blown out of proportion. However, the day started to get interesting when Jiro called.

“Jade-sama. We have caught Akaguro Chizome, he is waiting for you in the holding cell at the Hosu Hideout.”

“Ah, good job, Jiro-san. Please make sure he’s comfortable, I will be back as soon as I drop Floyd and Himiko off at the amusement park.”

“Understood, sir.”

Jade hung up and focused on the games. The Second Event has begun and it was a cavalry battle. More interesting than the obstacle race but not by much. Whatever, the Hero Killer was waiting for him. He’ll have fun soon.

Chapter Text

Floyd confidently and happily walked to the waiting room of Class 2-D as soon as the Second Event of the festival ended. Nee-chan and Present Mic had a collab just last weekend and she managed to get him a UA visitors pass so he could visit Himiko. Jade said he wasn’t allowed to go until her part in the festival was over so he was allowed now.

For Himiko to go to UA undercover, she had to change her hairstyle and used makeup to give herself some freckles, change her eye shape, the shape of her nose, and the shape of her cheekbones. 

Floyd did everything, both her hairstyle and her makeup, every day. Floyd had put her hair up in an elegant bun and, using makeup, he transformed her. Makeup could make you look like anyone and since Floyd was the best at everything, no one knew that Jingu Himiko, the General Education student was the same Himiko as the Toga Himiko who was a villain who is still at large. 

A villainous girl who a lot of people think was still going around attacking and killing people indiscriminately.

Floyd turned the corner and reached the room. He could see Jade showing some random debris the pass Present Mic gave them. Meh. That was none of Floyd’s problem, Jade could deal with it.

“Himiko-chan!” Floyd exclaimed as he slammed the door open, causing a few of the anemones to jump, “I’m here for you!”

“Floyd-kun!” Himiko exclaimed, rushing into his arms, “I’m so happy you’re finally here! Did you see me?”

“Yeah! You did amazing.” Floyd nodded.

“Aww, you’re so sweet!”

“I apologize for them.” Floyd could vaguely hear Jade say to the rest of the people in the room, “When they get like this, they only have each other in their world. Please forgive and ignore them.”

“A-and you two are?”

“Where are my manners? My name is Jade and my triplet over there is Floyd, he is Himiko’s boyfriend.”

“... I am so sorry you have to live with this.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I have long been used to this. They have been together for a year.”

“... That just makes us feel worse.”

Jade was being really mean to him for no reason. He was even making the anemones mean too.

“So! So! Are we going now?” Himiko asked excitedly.

“Yep!”

Himiko squealed and jumped up and down. The other girls in the class finally got over their shock of seeing two random people enter their class waiting room and asked Himiko what was going on.

“Floyd-kun is taking me out on a date to the amusement park!” Himiko squealed.

“Wow… I never knew Jingu-san could look like that… she’s usually happy but not that happy. Will her cheeks break? She’s smiling so much.”

“I wonder if her quirk, Vampire, also gives her stretchy cheeks.”

“To store blood, maybe? I don’t know if that works though…”

“That’s great, Jingu-chan! You have to tell us all about it when you get back!”

“Of course!” Himiko agreed.

“Hey, how old are you?”

“Huh? You’re talking to me?” Floyd asked when some no-name talked to him, “I’m eighteen.”

“Eighteen?! Then you’re a year older than Jingu-chan!”

“Yep.”

“Do… do you already have a job?”

“Yeah.”

“Um… what is it?”

“You see, our grandfather on our mother’s side is something of a CEO, and our other brother, who is our triplet, took it over after his death. We have been helping him run it so, if you want to be technical, we are all co-CEOs of the company.” Jade replied smoothly with his customer smile.

“Jingu-chan’s dating a CEO! Oh my All Might! This is just like in those romance books and movies!”

“You’re so lucky! Rich, handsome, and tall? You hit the jackpot!”

Himiko giggled, “Didn’t I? Being with Floyd-kun has been the happiest moment of my life! I love him!”

The anemones kept talking and talking. Soon the Third Event started and people were watching it from the tv in the room. Floyd knew the only reason that most of Class 1-D wasn’t watching from their seats in the stands was that he and Jade were around. After a while, Floyd got bored of all the talk and watching weak people fight so he pushed Himiko the bag that he brought for her.

“Here, change, and let's go. I’ll be waiting for you in the car.” Floyd said as he turned around and walked out of the room.

As he walked out of the area, he bumped into a flaming guy. He had flames all over him and a sneer on his face. It didn’t take Floyd long to recognize the man as Endeavor. Someone he hasn’t seen in a long while.

“Who are you? You aren’t a student.” Endeavor asked, looking down at him.

Floyd decided that he hated Endeavor. Azul would let him make him disappear for him, or even help him make Endeavor disappear. Floyd didn't care that he killed his grandfather, all he cared about was that this prey was looking at him, a hunter. As if he was a weakling that needed to be eaten.

“I have a pass.” Floyd declared, showing off his pass, “And I’m leaving now.”

Floyd walked away from the flaming man who just seemed to get even more flaming. Where were the sprinklers? Why weren’t they going off? Maybe he should tell Nee-chan about this so she could tell Present Mic. A school without good sprinklers was just asking to be set on fire.

Maybe he should burn down UA with Himiko one day? She might like that as a ‘date’ idea.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Floyd was having a lot of fun today. He and Himiko went on every ride, eat all the sweets in the park, and even watched the play that never changes in the park’s theatre. They played all day and did whatever ‘couple’ stuff that Himiko insisted on doing. Floyd played along as long as she rode the rides he wanted to go on.

“I had so much fun!” Himiko declared, smiling at Floyd as they sat down on an out-of-the-way grassy hill to watch the sunset.

“It was fun.” Floyd nodded.

They had to leave soon if they wanted to get to the restaurant. Stupid Jade, he wouldn’t get into a mood to skip the reservation. Azul told him that if he went to the reserved place, he would get a fun mission sooner.

“Hey… Floyd-kun…” Himiko said, in a more serious tone than anything he ever heard come out of her mouth.

“Yeah?”

“I… I’m really, really happy I met you. All my life, my parents kept telling me I had to act normal, I had to be normal, but I couldn’t. I tried my best, lasted until just last year, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I fell in love with my first love, his name was Saito and I saw him fighting at school and getting covered in bruises and blood. That's when I fell in love with him and killed him by accident because of it. I became a villain and ran away, living on the streets and making a living by killing and taking money off of my victims. 

“Right now, I'm a wanted suspect due to the attack and am the prime suspect in several murders involving bloodletting. When I first saw you, you were entering a villain hangout that I was scoping out to see if there were any good targets with a lot of confidence. I was curious, you weren’t all that older than me but seeing you go into someplace I was scared to go into was interesting.

“Then… then I fell in love. You broke their legs, bit off their arms, ripped off their heads, you were like a tornado leaving a trail of carnage in your wake. Your eyes were like jewels when you fell into your trance. When you finished, you were drenched in your victims' blood, and ah… you looked so delicious. I couldn’t help but try to show you how much I loved you and then you let me follow you home.

“Thanks to you, I… I have a Nee-chan who loves me for me, a cute Imoto I can play with, and many other people who don’t care I’m not normal. With you, someone who acts like me sometimes, I feel normal. My kind of normal. I finally feel like I belong. I love blood and I want to cut you up and suck all of your blood until you have nothing left. If you try to leave me, I’ll do just that. I love you, I really, really love you. So please, tell me you love me back, I swear I’ll kill you if you don’t.”

Floyd listened to Himiko. He knew that she wanted to do some mushy love confession to him so he let her talk without interrupting her. He watched her face go from sad to serious to lovesick to happy to crazy. However, even though she looked crazy and said something most people would think was crazy, Floyd could tell that she wasn’t crazy. She was just scared and desperate.

Floyd pulled her into a hug and patted her head, “Mah. I don’t like saying things you should already know but, just one time, I’ll say it. Himiko, I love you.”

Himiko teared up and started crying.

“You know, it’s okay if you want to try to kill me. I try to kill Jade and Azul all the time and I still like them. I would try to kill Nee-chan but she always paralyzes me so that’s no fun and Eri-chan isn’t much to fight with yet but I will when she’s older.”

Himiko looked up at him and smiled while bringing out the knives he had hand-crafted and gifted to her for her birthday. The smile was crazy, it was insane, it was demented and deranged, but it was the most beautiful smile Floyd has ever seen.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

After dinner, the fun began again. Floyd didn’t like that Azul gave them fancy outfits to wear for dinner but as long as the job he gave him was fun, Floyd would forgive him. Floyd had to change into a suit while Himiko changed into a dress. Floyd didn’t care about how they looked outside of that they could move easily in it. 

“The food was amazing!” Himiko gushed as she patted her stomach, “Do you think we ate too much?”

“Nah. Azul’ll pay for it.”

“Oh, okay!”

Floyd used magic to hide them from all the usual people as they made their way to a shady villain hangout area. They were allowed to set up shop there as long as they followed the rules of not letting any Pro Heroes and police find out for at least half a year because Octavinelle was using the area for information gathering and needed to switch out the important people for less important people. However, they managed to get themselves infiltrated not even a month in so they had to go.

“Are you ready?” Floyd asked as they stood in front of the building, the barrier was already up.

“Of course! I’m getting a bit thirsty so let’s go!” Himiko cheered.

Floyd pushed the door open with a bang, “Oi! Hirame!”

“Ah. Floyd.” Hirame froze as he slowly put down the wine glass he was polishing, “So today’s the day?”

“Yep! Now shoo, Jade would be angry if you get hurt.”

“I’ll come out when you’re done.”

Floyd nodded but his good mood died when some random debris got into his face and started yelling.

“Who the hell are you?! Ya don’t just barge in here lookin’ like some rich guy and start orderin’ people around like ya own the place!”

Floyd laughed and placed one of his hands on the guy’s shoulder, “But I do own the place.”

Floyd crushed the guy’s shoulders as he pushed himself into the air to kick off the debris’ head. There was a brief moment of silence after Floyd sent the head flying but everyone started charging for him. He was in his element. An all-out brawl, making the entire room bloody and dancing between the weak attacks they try to throw at him. He didn’t even need his magic to destroy them.

Himiko also joined in. Throwing her knives and slicing whoever got too close. Somewhere along the way, they cut the electricity and caused a blackout. They danced and danced under the blood of their enemies. Their music was the screams and curses of their victims. The perfect moonlit ballroom dance for two monsters.

When Floyd snapped out of his frenzy, all that remained was blood staining the floors, walls and ceiling, bones and organs littering the floor, and a few other bits and pieces that Floyd could care less about. He was standing drenched in blood, the black of his suit being hidden by all the blood. Just like all the other times when he did jobs like this, he always ended up so bloody. He has to change and take a shower before playing with Eri since she’s still scared of blood.

Other than himself, Himiko was also there and she was in the middle of drinking someone dry. Her pink dress was stained with so much blood that anyone who looks at it might think it was a red dress to begin with. When she was done, she smiled up at him with the lower half of her face covered in blood.

Floyd grinned down at her, blood also staining the area around his mouth. Floyd was riding on the high of the fight so he picked her up and sat her down on the only table that wasn’t broken due to the fight and kissed her. She kissed back and they stayed like that for a while before they broke it off.

“Wow…” Himiko whispered, blushing and smiling, “Again!’

“Not in the mood.” Floyd declared as he turned away from her.

“Aww. Okay.” Himiko pouted.

Floyd walked over to the drinks behind the bar counter, they were almost all alcoholic and most of the bottles were broken but Floyd knew they had some small assortment of juice kept in case the bartender wanted to drink something that wasn’t alcoholic and not tasteless water.

“You want apple juice?”

“Sure.”

Floyd picked up a bottle and threw it to Himiko who caught it easily. He took the orange juice and took a sip. Even if he was fine with the blood in his mouth, he likes tasting oranges more than blood.

“Ne, ne, Himiko-chan, I want to get rid of someone, you wanna do it with me?” Floyd asked, remembering the red flaming guy when he looked down at the small fire going on by his feet next to the pool of red blood.

“Sure! Who?”

“Endeavor.”

Suddenly, the door to the room that the staff was hiding in burst open, and some random guy barged out. He was fairly tall and pale with a slim, somewhat lanky build. He has black hair that Floyd knew was dyed and hung low over his eyes, which are thin, turquoise in colour, and heavily lidded. He had patches of gnarled, wrinkled, purple skin that cover much of his lower face and neck, all the way down past his collarbone, below his eyes, around his torso, and on his arms and legs. Those patches looked like they were to the rest of his skin by multiple, crude surgical staples or hoop piercings.

The man marched right up to Floyd and looked him in the eye with a fire that could kill millions in them, “You want to kill Endeavor?”

“Hey! Stay away from my man!” Himiko yelled, throwing a knife at the crazy person who burned it with his blue fire.

“You want to kill Endeavor?” The guy repeated, still looking crazy.

“What’s it to you?”

“I want to kill him. I don’t care about anything else. I just want to be the one who kills Endeavor. If I can be the one who kills him, I don’t care what happens to me. I heard that you own this place, which means you’re part of some group, am I right? I can do a lot of things, I’ll even sign my life away, as long as I get to kill Endeavor, I’ll do anything.”

“Ugh. If you want to talk like that, talk to Azul.” Floyd said as he made a disguised face at the guy, “Himiko-chan, did’ja call Azul?”

“Yep! He sent someone, and he said that the zombie can come with us!”

“You heard her, when the people come, get in the car with the rest of them.” Floyd said as he jabbed his thumb at the door behind him.

Floyd walked past the zombie man and towards the room he barged out of. The only room that he and Himiko left untouched.

“Oi! Hirame! You and whoever else is there can come out now! Azul is coming to pick us up.”

Floyd didn’t wait for an answer as he walked over to Himiko, picked her off the table, swung her around, and plopped her down beside him. She giggled and followed him outside to look up at the stars.

“I had a lot of fun today! Let’s do it again!”

“Yeah! Let’s bully Azul into paying for everything again!”

“Isn’t this Azul guy your boss?” Zombie guy asked.

“And my triplet! He’s always sad when I remind him about that!” Floyd cheered.

“... I can’t see why.” Zombie guy said blandly.

“He’s just no fun!” Himiko declared.

Soon the cars came to get them. Cars that someone Azul has working for him put under their quirk that can turn things invisible for a set amount of time. Floyd didn’t care. He, Himiko, and Zombie guy got into one of the cars while the staff from the villain bar that no longer exists enters the other cars.

“So, Zombie man, what’s your name?” Himiko asked.

“... Call me Dabi.”

“That’s your name now, isn’t it? You had a name before this one.” 

Floyd watched as Dabi tensed and his hands clenched into fists. Floyd decided to needle the guy a bit more.

“Yes!” Dabi grunted in anger, “I did but I’m not telling you anything. That’s personal.”

Himiko laughed, “Sure, sure! Don’t worry, you won’t have to say anything, Jade will have your entire history by the time we get back!”

“Azul might only call you by your birth name if he’s feeling mean, which he will be since we used a lot of his money for our date.” Floyd added.

“Why am I suffering for your mistakes?” Dabi asked, Floyd could tell that he was trying to ignore what they just told him.

“Deal with it.” Himiko said mercilessly. 

Floyd smiled. It seems like Himiko was becoming more and more like him. Wasn’t he an amazing role model? Nee-chan and Jade would be so proud of him! Azul might try to hit him with a brick again but who cares about him?

Chapter Text

Dabi has been alone for a long time, from the time before he became Dabi. A time when he was known as Todoroki Touya. A name he can no longer claim for two reasons, for one, Todoroki Touya was legally dead and has been for years. For the second reason, Dabi never wanted to be associated with that name ever again. Not Touya but the Todoroki name, he will never be a Todoroki again.

He was born to Todoroki Rei and Todoroki Enji, who was known to the public as the Pro Hero Endeavor. They got together due to a Quirk Marriage, which is basically an arranged marriage but it involves choosing partners based on the compatibility of the couple’s quirks or choosing someone who can improve the quirk of their offspring. Unfortunately, he was born with the ‘wrong’ quirk, a quirk that makes very hot blue flames. Blue flames that are so hot they even burn him. 

As soon as his quirk was labelled Unsuitable for Pro Hero Work, he was abandoned by his father who used to look at him with pride. He was then abandoned by his mother who focused all her attention on his younger siblings and ignored him entirely. It wouldn’t have been too bad if it wasn’t for the fact she wouldn’t even look at him, just because he used to have their father’s red hair.

Touya was desperate for attention, he burned his body over and over for a shred of attention. He thought that if he managed to be strong enough and managed to become a Pro Hero, he would get attention from his father. However, when he asked his father to meet him at the top of a hill where he usually trained to see how hot his fire can burn, his father never came. He burned and burned, almost dying in the process but it was for nothing. He was saved by some cult-like people.

The cult-like people tried to keep him with them after telling him he was sleeping for three years. He escaped and burned down the building behind him. He needed to get home because he thought that his family was worried about him but that was only a childish delusion. Nothing changed. His father was still training Shoto like normal and he was forgotten, like normal.

That’s when something shattered inside Touya. As he watched his father train Shoto through the window, the person who used to be Touya, the one who was so desperate for the slightest bit of love, died. The desire for his father’s love turned into the desire for his father’s death at his hands and because of that, the remains of Touya got glued together by his desire to kill Endeavor, and Dabi was born.

Even if Dabi’s goal is to utterly destroy Endeavor and would rather train, he needs money to survive. So he became a thug for hire. He mostly did clean-up jobs that removed some of society’s dirt for a price. It could be argued that he was an assassin but none of the jobs he did was sneaky. He just went to a location, burn whoever he was paid to kill, and move on to the next job. 

He did odd jobs when he was short on cash but that was it.

He took a temporary position as a bartender during a dry season in the jobs he could take. Apparently, burning people weren’t wanted right now since they want people to leave remains and whatnot as warnings. Dabi really didn’t care other than he was losing a good portion of his income.

After this job, he was planning to visit the League of Villains, a group that people were whispering about. He didn’t want to join, he just wanted to check it out and see how much they pay.

Anyway, while Dabi was working at the shady bar, his semi-routine work was interrupted by a fancy-looking couple who walked in like they owned the place. It turned out they did own the place.

“Dai. What’s happing?” Dabi asked when Dai ushered every staff member into the storage area and bolted the door behind him.

Dai sighed, “This building is owned by the Octavinelle Group, they agreed to let villains use it as a hangout so long as they don’t let the police or Pro Heroes know about it for six months so they could switch out their more important staff with other just as skilled but not as important people.”

“Octavinelle? Isn’t that Yakuza?” One of his fellow part-timers asked, “The one that’s trying to revive the Yakuza?

“The one that has revived the Yakuza.” Dai corrected, “Honestly, rumour has it that he has half the underworld in his hands and I think it’s close enough to the truth. Anyway, since the Boss sent a Clean-Up Crew, it means that the authorities found out and are about to raid it or put in plants. Octavinelle would rather burn down this place than let it be used against them so this place has no future left.”

Dabi couldn’t care less about that, what he cared about was his pay. He was planning to stick around for two months and he planned his budget around that, what was he supposed to do now?

“What about money?” Dabi asked.

“Asking the important question, eh?” Dai asked before flinching when manic laughter came from outside, “You will be paid for how long your contract was written for, as per the Octavinelle rules.”

So he was getting two months' worth of pay at once. Not a bad deal.

As Dabi started rewriting his budget, he heard Dai sigh and mutter, “Why in the world would he send those two of all people?”

“W-who are they?” Someone else asked, there was a loud crash, spatters of some liquid, and boisterous laughter coming from outside the bolted door. A bolted steel door that seems to have a dent in it.

“They… are monsters.” Dai muttered, “Floyd and Himiko, the monstrous bloodthirsty couple who would happily do any job the Boss gives them so long as they get to spill a large amount of blood. When they get into a really good mood, if you aren’t registered as someone important to them, you’re dead. It doesn’t matter if you’re a target or just a bystander, if you’re in their way, you’ll die.”

“Is… Was this place that important?” Dabi asked, if it was, he was demanding more pay.

“No.” Dai moaned in misery, “If it was, I would have been paid more.”

Great minds think alike, Dabi sees.

“The Boss said that they were on a date, which means that this massacre was the final event of their date.”

Dabi was sure that everyone in the room collectively wondered what kind of monsters those two were. To arrange a massacre for a date? What kind of crazies did Octavinelle have on their pay role?

“It sounds like they’re done so I think it’s safe to open the door.” Dai said after a few seconds of silence.

Slowly, Dai unlocked all the locks and slowly pushed the doors open. When the door opened, it became easier to listen to what was happening on the outside. Not that Dabi cared but something caught his attention.

“... I want to get rid of someone, you wanna do it with me?” the guy, whom Dabi assumes is Floyd, asked.

“Sure! Who?”

“Endeavor.”

It was as if someone flipped a switch in Dabi’s mind. This guy, this monster disguised as a human being, wanted to kill Endeavor. As if he was possessed, Dabi pushed the door so hard it burst open completely and marched quickly to the guy. He was very tall and looked slim but Dabi could see the carnage around him. This guy was dangerous but Dabi didn’t care, he had only one thing on his mind.

“You want to kill Endeavor?” Dabi asked.

“Hey! Stay away from my man!” The girl, probably Himiko, yelled, throwing a knife at him, it didn't matter though, since Dabi burned it with his blue fire.

“You want to kill Endeavor?” Dabi repeated, urging Floyd for an answer.

“What’s it to you?”

“I want to kill him. I don’t care about anything else. I just want to be the one who kills Endeavor. If I can be the one who kills him, I don’t care what happens to me. I heard that you own this place, which means you’re part of some group, am I right? I can do a lot of things, I’ll even sign my life away, as long as I get to kill Endeavor, I’ll do anything.” 

Dabi knew he sounded mad, crazy, insane, but he didn’t care. He was only living to kill Endeavor. It was his reason to live.

“Ugh. If you want to talk like that, talk to Azul.” Floyd said, for some reason, Floyd made a disguised face, “Himiko-chan, did’ja call Azul?”

“Yep! He sent someone, and he said that the zombie can come with us!”

“You heard her, when the people come, get in the car with the rest of them.” Floyd said as he jabbed his thumb at the door behind him.

Floyd walked past Dabi and towards the room he barged out of. Dabi didn’t know what to feel about being so blatantly ignored but he didn’t have any place to complain at the moment. He was asking this guy to join his Yakuza family so it was best not to annoy him for now. Dabi didn’t care what he did as long as he gets his chance. Even if he has to burn his own body to ask in order to kill Endeavor, he would do it. He would become just like a Kamikaze pilot if he had to.

A shout brought Dabi back to the present and he watched as Floyd walked over to Himiko, picked her off the table, swung her around, and plopped her down beside him. She giggled and followed him outside. Dabi’s face went blank, such a lovey-dovey couple that was happily killing people under the night sky. The perfect monster couple that looked too innocent on the outside.

“I had a lot of fun today! Let’s do it again!”

“Yeah! Let’s bully Azul into paying for everything again!”

“Isn’t this Azul guy your boss?” Dabi asked, wanting to know as much as possible before he met the guy.

“And my triplet! He’s always sad when I remind him about that!” Floyd cheered.

“... I can’t see why.” Dabi said blandly, he would feel despair too if he had this monster as his relative.

It wasn’t that Floyd killed people, Dabi didn’t have a leg to stand here, but it was Floyd’s general demeanour that grated on Dabi. He seems like the type to do whatever he wanted and had no regard for anyone else. He wanted to be as free as Floyd seemed but there was just something wrong with Floyd that Dabi couldn’t put a finger on what exactly is wrong with him but the destruction seems to be a good enough sign.

“He’s just no fun!” Himiko declared.

After a while of waiting, a bunch of cars appeared out of nowhere. Dabi guesses that it was due to someone's quirk but he didn’t say anything, he wasn’t trusted enough for any information. He followed Himiko and Floyd into one of the cars while the other staff from the villain bar that no longer exists entered the other cars.

“So, Zombie man, what’s your name?” Himiko asked.

“... Call me Dabi.”

Were they calling him ‘Zombie Man’ this entire time? He was called worse but that was kind of insulting.

“That’s your name now, isn’t it? You had a name before this one.” 

Dabi tensed and his hands clenched into fists. His old name wasn’t his anymore and he hated being reminded of the past but Floyd kept needling him. It was getting on his nerves and Dabi fantasized for a moment that he could set this guy on fire. However, he would most likely get killed for even attempting so he held back.

“Yes!” Dabi grunted in anger, “I did but I’m not telling you anything. That’s personal.”

Himiko laughed, “Sure, sure! Don’t worry, you won’t have to say anything, Jade will have your entire history by the time we get back!”

“Azul might only call you by your birth name if he’s feeling mean, which he will be since we used a lot of his money for our date.” Floyd added.

“Why am I suffering for your mistakes?” Dabi asked.

Inwardly, Dabi was panicking but there was nothing he could do if they were already doing a background check. Besides, thanks to his unwilling three-year stay at that cult place, there was nothing connecting him to Todoroki Touya. Even if they manage to make that connection, it would just be more reasons to join this group while he is still able to do some negotiating with his contract.

“Deal with it.” Himiko said mercilessly. 

Yeah. Dabi can see why this hellcat was with that devil. These two deserve each other, Dabi resolves to be dead if they ever have children.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dabi was reluctant to admit it but he was scared. He was sitting on a chair in front of the Octavinelle Boss’ desk, listening to the Boss’ Right Hand, Jade, give a detailed report of his life. From the time he was born down to the millisecond to how he resolved to be dead if the monster couple reproduces. A resolve that he made while on the car ride to this meeting, something he never voiced.

“Do you… have some kind of mind-reading quirk?” Dabi asked slowly, knowing he was indirectly telling them all the information they had on him was true but he was too emotionally spent from listening to his past be regurgitated to care, “Or maybe some kind of retrocognition quirk?”

Jade just smiled, sending a subzero chill down Dabi’s spine.

“Unfortunately, I do not. I wish I had such a useful quirk like that but I only have a Moray Eel Transformation Type Quirk.” Jade said mournfully, the worst thing was that Dabi didn’t know if it was genuine or not.

“Right. So, Touya-san, or would you prefer Dabi-san?”

“I am Dabi, Touya is dead.”

“Of course.” Azul, the boss, gave him a smile that doesn’t seem authentic at all, “So, if what I learned is correct, you wish to end Endeavor’s life and you are also willing to join Octavinelle to do so.”

“Yes.”

“Are you prepared to pay any price?”

“Of course.” Dabi said without hesitation, “I will pay any price so long as I’m the one who ends him.”

Azul gave him a Business Smile but for some reason, it felt very unpleasant. 

Azul stuck out his hand, “Dabi, make a Deal with me!”

For some reason, it felt like something heavy was about to happen. Dabi shook Azul’s hand and was ushered out of the room for the night. He was told to follow some guy to his guest room and wait until he was called back to the office tomorrow morning when he would sign his formal contract.

And get his pay for his bartending contract. He can’t forget about that money.

The guy walked him all the way to his room. However, instead of leaving when they reached the room, he jerked his head toward the room and entered it. Dabi decided to take it as him wanting to talk with him.

“What is it?” Dabi asked, plopping himself down on the bed while the guy leaned against the wall.

“I’m here to give you advice, don’t sign a contract with Azul.” The guy said.

“Why?”

“... For a request like killing the Number Two Pro Hero, he is going to extort you for everything you can possibly give him. He’s going to use some really special contract that makes it impossible for you to break.”

“Sounds like a personal experience.” Dabi commented lightly.

“You don’t know half of it.” The guy sighed, “Just… just trust me on this. You haven’t signed anything yet so you still have time.”

Dabi didn’t know why this guy was being so dramatic so he pestered him until the guy finally agreed to spill.

His name was Kurono Hari and he used to belong to a different Yakuza Group, the Shie Hassaikai Group. His old group went against the agreement they had with Octavinelle and paid the price. Dabi could vaguely remember the news about the complete annihilation of some Yakuza a few years ago and realized that the footage he saw of the crime area was the same as the carnage the monster couple left at the bar.

“Ah. Yeah, I know that face. You’re half right, Floyd-san was the one who killed everyone but he did it all on his own. Himiko-san wasn’t in the picture at the time.” Kurono revealed, much to Dabi’s shock.

“All on his own? The footage I saw looked worse than what I saw at the bar…”

“Yeah… as uncomfortable as it seems and sounds, Floyd-san does hold back a bit more now that Himiko-san goes on those kinds of jobs with him.” Kurono said, looking as if he didn’t understand either.

Dabi took a moment to commiserate with Kurono. Knowing that the carnage Floyd did in the bar was him holding back was enlightening.

After a few moments of silence, Kurono continued with his story. Apparently, Floyd took a liking to his old boss’ granddaughter and decided to take her in as his younger sister. However, after successfully taking her, he had to fight the top brass of the Shie Hassaikai Group which included Kurono. It was over in seconds. Kurono himself was about to get killed when Floyd’s mood swung and decided to spare him.

“To this date, I still cannot believe that I was only spared because I made that monster laugh…” Kurono muttered, looking as if he wanted to curl into himself and disappear, his eyebags didn’t make him seem any better.

Dabi decided to keep in mind that he should keep any and all interactions with Floyd to a minimum. He also made a mental rule to himself that, no matter what hellish job he gets, he wouldn’t stay up for three days straight like Kurono has because his lips were really loose. Loose lips sink ships and all that.

“So how does relate to me not signing some contract?” Dabi asked, wanting to get to the point of all this.

“Right.” Kurono said, straightening up, “So I was dragged to Azul-san’s office and was made to sign a contract. I was to become one of Eri’s caretakers and an employee of Octavinelle. I was not able to go against any orders given to me nor am I allowed to attack anyone without explicit permission from those I answer to. If I ever try to betray them, I will be dead.”

“That’s just a standard contract.” Dabi couldn’t help but point out.

All of those things that Kurono said were just standard stuff, he had seen them on most of his contracts. However, the look Kurono gave him told him that Kurono couldn’t believe he survived this long. Very insulting.

“It’s someone’s quirk. It has to be. Or else I would have attacked Y… Nee-chan and Floyd-san already. I might have already left and tried to tell the police and Pro Heroes about them.” Kurono revealed, hesitating on the first name, “As you see, I can’t even say Nee-chan’s name to you.”

Dabi took in a breath. A quirk revolving around contracts wasn’t that surprising, they did live in a world with many superpowers after all, but a quirk that powerful was something to be feared. 

“And when I say die, I do mean die. I’ve seen people drop dead when they manage to break one of the conditions. They never even manage to get the first letter of their names out before they die.”

Dabi steeled his resolve, “I don’t care. I won’t break any conditions if I get what I want. Besides, I’m in a better position than you were, I can still argue some changes if there’s something I can’t do.”

Kurono sighed, “That’s right. You are in a better position. However, the enforcement part isn’t the scary part. The scary part is that he takes something from you in return, like its collateral.”

“... What was your collateral?” Dabi couldn’t help but ask.

“... My loyalty.” Kurono gave Dabi a crooked smile with a hand over his heart, “They took my feeling of loyalty to Kai, the Acting Boss of the group when the Offical Boss was in a coma. They only left enough for me to be fiercely protective of Eri. Even if I wanted to avenge Kai, I won’t be able to because I don’t know if I want to anymore.”

“... As long as they don’t take my fury and my desire to kill Endeavor, I don’t care what they take.” Dabi said evenly as he made eye contact with Kurono.

The next morning, he walked into Azul’s office and read over his contract. What they want in exchange is to examine his body, remove the modifications done to him, and take away his feelings toward his youngest brother. According to the contract, they will do the first two after the fight but they will take his feelings as soon as he signed.

Dabi didn’t care about the first request and was actually happy about the second since he didn’t even know his body had been tampered with while he was in a coma, but the third is what got to him. When he asked why they said that the price is decided by what he wanted. It made sense for him to pay for his wish with a steep price. 

His negative feelings for Shoto were probably paying for most of his wishes anyway, those feelings were deep and part of his very soul at one point. At least now his youngest brother had his use.

Dabi signed the contract without hesitation. Soon, Endeavor was dead and that was all that mattered.

Even if he was selling his soul to Azul, who looked as if he was a devil who came to life, he would do it.

Chapter Text

Jade laid down with his head on Nee-chan’s lap as she ran her fingers through his hair to help him relax. Nee-chan and he was sitting and laying on the porch, respectively, while watching the ocean. There was some production issue with the movie she was shooting so she was mainly focused on her voice acting, which was something she could do at home now that she was a big shot.

They were at home, as in the house their grandfather left them, not the hideout for once. For one thing, they needed to keep up appearances that they were still living here and for another, Nee-chan loves this house. So if Jade wanted to see her, he just had to wait at the house until she came back.

“So, are you ready to tell me what’s got you so worked up?” Nee-chan asked.

“Azul is making unreasonable demands.” Jade said.

Jade wasn’t actually stressed out about anything, he just wanted to spend time with Nee-chan without his brothers. He also wanted to get Azul in trouble with Nee-chan, it’s been a while since he last did this.

“And what did demanding Azul demand?” Nee-chan asked in a placating manner.

“A client came in and asked for help. Azul agreed and pushed everything onto me. I have to arrange something on one of the days of the UA Internship Week. Which is only a month away, not enough time at all!”

Jade tried his best to sound and look pitiful. He failed most of the time but Nee-chan has a soft spot for them so he won.

“If it’s important, I’m sorry I can’t help.” Nee-chan apologized, “Instead, I’ll give Azul a good scolding when it’s all over, okay?”

“Okay…”

Jade closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, inwardly smirking at the fate that will befall Azul in a month’s time. Somehow, Nee-chan was still able to carry him to bed like he was still a kid even though he was twenty centimetres taller than she was and much heavier than when he was a kid. 

No matter how much Jade just adores creating and revelling in chaos, he did like the occasional calm moments and Nee-chan is the epitome of all things calm. There’s a reason why he enjoys his strolls in the mountains outside of picking all the mushrooms he could find for that night’s dinner.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A month later, Jade sat with Floyd and Azul as they prepared for what was to come. They built a large, flameproof colosseum for Dabi and Endeavor’s match. They tested it with the strongest Fire Spell they knew, casting it individually at the same time. They also tested it with Dabi’s flames just in case it would have a different reaction to fire produced by a quirk. Luckily, it was fine.

“It isn’t melting…” Dabi said uncomfortably.

“Fufufu, it was quite the undertaking but we managed.” Jade said with a smile, “This way, the fight will stay in this area and the guests who are coming to watch won’t get hurt. Many people want to see this after all.”

“And how many of those people are just coming to gain Octavinelle’s favour?” Dabi asked dryly.

Jade ignored that and kept smiling, “The money we get from here will pay for our employees so you are fighting for your future paychecks.”

“So I get to kill Endeavor and get paid? Sweet.”

“Just remember the fight will be a spectacle, so wear the suit we provided for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, the suit that somehow negates all the damage my quirks do to my body, I got it. Wish I got this suit before.”

Jade just smiled.

They scheduled the battle for the night of the third day of the UA Internship Week. They decided to name it, The Great Conflagration: The Battle Between the Number Two Hero Endeavor and Dabi! Named by Himiko because the rest of them didn’t want to deal with naming the event.

Azul was busy in general while Jade had to help him so it fell onto Floyd who wasn’t in the mood so Himiko helped him in exchange for an ice cream date after school. On Azul’s wallet but no one told him anything.

Well, Azul will find out when he checks his balances but by then, Floyd would have already forgotten about the date. 

Jade took that name and sent invitations to all the people under Azul’s influence. All the Yakuza groups, Triad groups, Mafia Famiglias, and Gangs, were invited and most of them agreed to come. They came in small groups, pretending to be tourists. Those who were unable to come or just couldn’t stay got a written agreement that Azul would make sure to stream it across the world to them.

Originally, the plan was to just kidnap Endeavor the day of. It did take a while to hide the mirror Azul painstakingly made somewhere Endeavor would step on during his patrol. However, as their plans were being put into action, they got information that Shimura Tenko was going to unleash a horde of Nomu on Hosu on the day of the scheduled kidnapping because Stain didn’t show up to the meeting he agreed to.

“Are you serious?” Azul asked incredulously, “We can’t push the fight back, we arranged this a month in advance!”

“Unfortunately, the information isn’t wrong.”

“That child… I know that All For One is deliberately raising a man-child so he would be easy to manipulate and take over but there should be a limit to such unprofessionalism.” Azul complained, “Even Floyd has more self-control, Floyd! Even if it’s mostly his instincts, at least he listens to them!”

“Now, now, Azul. We just need him to step onto the mirror. There are many things we can do.”

“Just make the Nomu things weaker.” Floyd commented as he continued to build the card castle he was making.

Jade thought about what Floyd said and nodded, “Yes. That could work.”

“Jade.” The look Azul gave him caused Jade to laugh.

“We can analyze the changes made in Dabi’s body and use it to create some type of serum to make the Nomus weaker than normal. It would make the fight go by quicker and make the situation easier to manipulate. Which means we can guide Endeavor to the mirror during the controlled chaos.”

Azul nodded and gave the order. Dabi was surprisingly very cooperative but it seems like it’s mostly due to the fact that he doesn’t like his destined fight being interrupted by some random villain attack. Jade would bet that the only reason Dabi didn’t decide to just leave and kill Shimura was that he knew that Azul was already planning retribution and Dabi knew better than to interfere with any of Azul’s plans.

Within the day, they were able to create a workable Nomu poison and had their workers drop breakable capsules all over Hosu so the poison would affect the Nomus no matter where they end up. 

When the attack happened, all the important guests were already seated and were watching it happen on the large-screen TVs Azul had set up. They were to be used so that the guests could have a closer look at the fight between Endeavor and Dabi but Azul thought it would be a waste not to stream the attack as well. To give them a warm-up show before the main fight.

They watched as the heroes managed to quickly defeat the Nomus, someone even commented that these were probably failed versions of the one that All Might fought because they were so weak.

Jade could only feel pity for those blinded sheep.

Everyone waited with bated breath as a countdown appeared at the corners of the TVs, signally the amount of seconds left until Endeavor arrives. As soon as the countdown hit zero, the Endeavor on the TV disappeared with little fanfare and reappeared in chains in the center of the colosseum.

“Welcome everyone! You may call me Mister Compress and I will be your host for today’s event! The Great Conflagration: The Battle Between the Number Two Hero Endeavor and Dabi!” The host they hired for the event announced.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Endeavor roared as he thrashed against the restraints.

“Hahaha!” Floyd laughed in their soundproof booth, “He looks like that First Place kid! You know, the one who won the First Year UA Sports Festival?”

“Indeed. It seems like Endeavor, no matter how old he is, has never matured.” Azul sighed, “I expected this but it is still such a pity.”

“Indeed.” Jade nodded.

Jade didn’t comment any further, instead, he pulled out his disposable and untraceable laptop and checked all the social media. They had taken over every TV and news channel so that they could stream this event live all over Japan. Right now, this was all everyone could be talking about.

“Fufufu, we are getting many mixed comments. Those who love Endeavor, those who hate him, Villains who want to see blood, people who think this is just a publicity stunt, and many more.”

“My, what a mixed bag.” Azul said, “Jade, tell Sako Atsuhiro and Dabi that we are going with Plan D,”

“Going all out?”

“Naturally!” Azul declared with dramatic flair, “This is a show, might as well give the audience some backstory.”

Jade’s smile got sharper as he sent Sako and Dabi a text. Sako was doing a magnificent job hyping up the event so far.

“Now, before we start, I’m sure many in the audience are wondering why we’re doing this. Are we in cohorts with the League of Villains? Was the attack on Hosu part of our plan to kidnap Endeavor? How villainous!” Sako exclaimed with false horror, “To answer your questions, the answer is no. The organizers of this event are not involved with the League of Villains, I myself was just hired as an announcer, not part of any group. We’ve been planning on this kidnapping for an entire month and the Hosu attack was only a coincidence that made the kidnapping harder.”

“Bullshit!” Endeavor growled, “Why won’t these chains melt?!”

Sako expertly ignored the man-child, “So, why have we kidnaped Endeavor? Was this all for a show? Well, partly. A certain someone from Endeavor’s past who paid a lot to get this fight to the death arranged! So let’s give a big round of applause for the man who wants Endeavor dead the most, Dabi!”

Everyone in the audience started cheering and applauding as Dabi confidently and casually strolled on stage. Even though it wasn’t shared with the general public, Dabi was representing the Octavinelle Group so he couldn’t fly into a blind rage the second he saw Endeavor. They practiced so he wouldn’t, though, Jade was sure it had more to do with the glee Dabi must be feeling at seeing Endeavor chained up and helpless instead of all the practice they did.

“Now, I’m sure many of you are wondering how Dabi knows Endeavor and just why he holds such a grudge against Mr. Number Two and so, it is my honour to explain it all! As you know, Endeavor has four children, one of whom died in a fire while practicing his quirk. That is a lie.” Sako declared as Dabi took a bottle of water and washed away the hair dye he was using to hide his white hair, “Dabi! The villain with numerous arson attacks on his record is Todoroki Touya! Endeavor’s oldest son!”

Everyone screamed, the oncoming fight was becoming more and more interesting. The camera zoomed into Endeavor’s shocked face. If you were to ask Jade, the expression was a thing of beauty. A mixture of shock, dread, denial, hope, and horror, all mixed together to make a piece of art.

“It’s nice to see you again… father. Tell me, did you miss this failure of a son?” Dabi asked with a savage grin on his face.

“T-Touya…” Endeavor muttered, eyes wide, “You’re alive.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you.” Dabi snorted, “But don’t worry, you won’t need to live with the guilt anymore. I promise I’ll get rid of you, permanently. The world will be a much better place without False Heroes like you. One who’s only in it for the fame and not much about the actual saving people thing. If you were a True Hero, I wouldn’t have become what I became, you only have yourself to blame.”

Sako narrated Dabi’s past. What Endeavor did to him, what he did to his family, what abuse he committed behind closed doors due to his ambitions, all the lawsuits that were brushed away due to his fame, and a bunch of other things. The list went on and on.

“It really makes you wonder if villains and heroes are so different if this is what the Number Two Hero is like, am I right?” Sako asked.

Dabi started taunting Endeavor when Jade’s phone started vibrating. Without looking at the Caller ID, there was only one person would be calling him at this time since he told everyone else not to.

“Hello, Nee-chan, how are you?”

“I’m wonderful.” Nee-chan said in a false pleasant voice, “Except for the fact that something interrupted the filming, everything is fine.”

“Ah, I’m sorry, we should have made sure you could watch this with us.”

“It’s fine. Due to the chaos, I got permission from the people in charge to leave the set early and go get Eri-chan and Himi-chan. This isn’t something that children should be watching. Many schools have either called parents to get their kids or moved the kids into rooms without any TV so they can’t see what’s happening.” Nee-chan sounded frustrated, “This entire situation has gotten a lot of Pro Heroes anxious. They are looking into every single underground fighting ring they know of but still nothing.”

“Are you worried?” Jade asked, about them went unsaid for obvious reasons.

“Of course! Flo-kun always makes me worry when he’s alone, add in his two chaotic brothers, I don’t even want to think about it! Be careful, especially right now. Between the attack at Hosu and what’s happening now, be very careful.

“Understood.”

“I want Flo-kun and Azz-kun to promise too.”

“No need to worry about me, Nee-chan. I am always careful.”

“We promise, Nee-chan~ Tell Himiko-chan that I said hi~”

“Good. I need to go now so-”

“Actually, Nee-chan.” Jade interrupted before she hung up,” Please tell Himiko-san that, due to circumstances, Floyd won’t be able to bring her to where he is right now. Safety first and all that.”

“Okay, stay safe.” Nee-chan hung up.

It would be very difficult for the villains to find this area. They built the colosseum underwater in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and used a large Transportation Mirror to get all the guests there. They think they used a short-range teleportation quirk to teleport them to some underground secret place, probably hidden in a mountain. Judging from what people were theorizing, everyone seems to think so as well.

“Idiots.” Azul scoffed as he looked over his shoulder to see the public’s reaction, “They only see what they want to see. They never think for themselves.”

Jade hummed in agreement. The fight was about to start so he glanced away from his laptop. Hopefully, the fight would be entertaining enough. If it isn’t, he can satisfy himself with human stupidity.

“You don’t want to do this, Touya. It’s still not too late, turn yourself in.” Endeavor said, his eyes never leaving Dabi.

“Turn myself in? Not too late? Ha! Don’t kid yourself, old man. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I started earning favours to get all this arranged.” Dabi bit out, showing all of his teeth, “Look around, look at everyone who came to watch you die, look at everything I’ve done! I did all that, all this, all to kill you! Ever since that day, all my life has revolved around killing you, after that, nothing matters. I wonder if any of my siblings would mourn for you? After everything you’ve ever done to them, I doubt it. Even if Shoto was the only one in your eyes, the only one you’ve ever trained, emotional neglect is still abuse! If they still love you after all that, I wonder what you’re feeding them for them to still think of you as a father. Oi! Compress, start the fight!”

“As you wish! As soon as the chains around Endeavor disappear, the fight will begin! Ready? Begin!” Sako yelled.

With a snap of Sako’s fingers, the chains disappeared and Dabi shot a large vortex of flames to Endeavor who blocked it. Sako actually had nothing to do with the chains going away, he just timed it so that it would look like he did. He appealed to Azul’s love of showmanship to get permission to do so.

The battlegrounds turned into what could only be described as a fiery hellscape. There was a layer of dirt on the floor of the colosseum which caught on fire and it looked as if they have created rivers of lava around them. 

It wasn’t just the ground that was destroyed. The air around them was so hot that you could see mirages. Red and blue fires were being thrown around, sometimes as clashing attacks and sometimes when one uses their flames to block an attack thrown at them from the other. They were burning and burning to higher temperatures. The guests were really lucky that they made it so that any and all heat and fires would stay inside the fighting area and wouldn’t affect the guests. 

The guests wooed and awwed as the fight dragged on. They cheered for Dabi and cried out for Endeavor’s blood. Judging by Azul’s gleeful expression, they were making a killing with their strategy of selling snacks to the guests. This takes Jade back to the times they were in charge of the organizations of the NRC Magishift Tournaments, back when they were just getting used to life on land.

Jade wasn’t usually nostalgic but, watching the carnage that’s not too different from his life on the darker side of the Coral Sea while also selling stuff like back in NRC, makes him feel a little soft. 

That simply won’t do. 

When this is over and they won All For One’s deal, they will need to deal with the Hero Commission. That way, Jade could be in his element again. Maybe he’ll steal one of Floyd’s clean-up jobs while he’s at it.

“This ends today!” Dabi screamed, burning brighter than ever, “I’ve lived, bled, and burn my body to a crisp for this moment! Die!”

As Dabi screamed, the largest blue flames Jade has ever seen him create and sent the flames towards Endeavor. Endeavor in his weakened state tried to counter it because there was nowhere to run. The fight reached its climax when red and blue flames collided and it ended when the blue flames overtook the red flames.

When the dust settled, all that remained of Endeavor was a large charred mess that only vaguely looked human.

“Ha… Haha… Hahaha!” Dabi laughed hysterically, tears streaming down his face, “I did it! I’m free! I’m finally free! Hahahahaha!”

“And the winner of that exhilarating fight is our very own Dabi!” Sako exclaimed, “What a fight! Amazing! The death of the Number Two Hero at the hands of his son! Now isn’t this the story of the century?!”

Jade sent another text to Sako, telling him to wrap it up and that he was getting a bonus for his work.

“Thank you, Japan and the world for tuning in! Whether you mourn for the ex-Number Two or not matters little to me! I’m getting paid a lot of money and I've just been told I was getting a bonus for my commentary throughout the fight! Anyone out there who wants me to be the announcer at your underground tournaments, you know how to contact me! Mr. Compress, Master Theif, and Master Announcer, out!” Sako announced.

Jade watched as the live stream cut off and ended. The Octavinelle tech department was already working on deleting any video recordings or pictures of their live stream. The only people who can get those are the people they promised or those who are willing to pay a lot of money to get their hands on Endeavor’s last moments.

Now, after getting the guests home and getting Dabi some medical aid, they can focus on the matter involving All For One.

Chapter Text

Floyd was bored. Azul told him to bring the newbie, Maguro ( Author’s note: Maguro means Bluefin Tuna in Japanese ), around to meet Nee-chan now that he can’t back out of the contract anymore.

Not that Maguro knew he could have backed out at any time before the actual fight between him and Endeavor. No one who knew was dumb enough to tell him that and anyone who was dumb enough didn’t know he could.

Stupid Hairy Frogfish. Showing Maguro around was supposed to be his job. Who cares if it’s the anniversary of the Shie Hassaikai Group Massecure? He could go visit the graves whenever he wanted, why did he have to go today? 

The only reason he was given this job was that Azul wanted Maguro to meet with Nee-chan, who the lower people didn’t know much about other than they call her Nee-chan. Why did Azul even want Maguro to meet Nee-chan? Yeah, sure, Azul did say something about giving Maguro some form of therapy because Azul didn’t want to deal with another crazy subordinate or whatever. 

Which was rude. Floyd and Himiko might be a bit crazy but they were perfectly good subordinates! Who wouldn’t want to be them?

“Why didja have to be crazy, Maguro?” Floyd complained as they waited for Nee-chan to come to the room.

“I don’t want to hear it from you.” Maguro said dryly before grumbling, “And my name isn’t Maguro, it’s Dabi.”

“Huh? Didja say something, Maguro?” Floyd asked menacingly.

“No, Floyd-san.” Maguro said his voice trembling a bit. 

At least he didn’t pee himself like Hairy Frogfish did the first time. That was just gross and sad. Very, very sad.

“Thought so!” Floyd declared as he ate some of the snacks that were always on the table, “The fight was okay, but you should have drawn more blood. It’s no fun only letting your quirk do the work.”

“It’s not?”

“Nope. See, quirks are like guns,” Floyd said as he decided to impart his knowledge to an idiot just this once, “very impersonal. Now, attacking with your hands and teeth is much more personal. And the more personal something is, the more fun it is when you win.”

“... okay.” Maguro nodded after a moment of silence.

Satisfied with making someone less stupid, Floyd relaxed on the couch and sipped his bubble tea. Regular tea and coffee got boring after a while so Floyd has decided to try different things.

“So… who is Nee-chan?” Maguro asked.

“Nee-chan is Nee-chan.”

“No, I mean, is Nee-chan your biological sister, or are they a sister figure or is it a title for someone?”

“Nee-chan is my biological older sister. She raised Azul, Jade, and me ever since we were little.”

“And she hasn’t gone running for the hills? Actually, no, since she raised them, how crazy will she be?” Maguro muttered.

It was rude but Floyd was a good person, and he was in a good mood since the bubble tea tasted good, so he pretended he didn’t hear anything. Maguro took another cookie and they waited together.

After a bit of waiting, the door opened, and in came Nee-chan who was dressed in her semi-disguise. Maguro’s jaw dropped when Nee-chan took off her hat and sunglasses and greeted him with a smile.

“A-Aikawa Yua!”

“Hello, though, before you say anything tactless and rude, no I did not bribe my way up the ladder. I made a binding contract with my brothers never to interfere with my career and they have listened to that.”

Maguro just nodded mutely.

“So, Flo-kun,” Nee-chan said as she turned her attention to him, as she should, “what did Azz-kun want you to tell me?”

Maguro’s eyes were wide, and Floyd could barely hear him whisper, “Flo-kun? Azz-kun? Is this woman sane? How the hell is she calling these monsters such cutesy names?”

“Azul wanted me to introduce you to Maguro and said something about needing therapy and not wanting him to be another crazy person, whatever that meant. I’m not that bad, right, Nee-chan?”

“Therapy! I don’t need therapy!” Maguro exclaimed, not even trying to be quiet anymore.

“Right, Flo-kun is perfect just the way he is.” Nee-chan nodded with a smile as she patted his head, “Azz-kun is just being a bully, like always. Jay-kun complained about him recently too, I guess he needs a talking to again?”

The normal parts of Maguro’s face turned an interesting shade of purple, matching his old burn scars, “Are you blind, women?! And Jade-san complaining?! Azul-san needing a talking to?!”

“Yeah, yeah! You should talk to Azul again! He’s being really mean to me, make him stop!” Floyd nodded, riding on the momentum.

“Who are you?”

“Of course. I’ll talk to Azz-kun later.” Nee-chan nodded, “But now, can you explain why he wants me to meet Dabi-san? You said something about therapy?”

While Nee-chan isn’t involved in the Yakuza, Azul did manage to get Nee-chan to agree to be some kind of therapist for anyone who needs help. Azul justified this by saying that, since Nee-chan was already going to therapy, she probably absorbed something. Azul didn’t want to hire someone because those who are willing to be employed by the Yakuza aren’t free of their own problems and something like therapy has to be handled by someone who wouldn’t talk to the authorities.

So yeah, Nee-chan got stuck with the job.

Though, only people really high up know about her real name. Those who aren’t high up enough only get to talk with a version of Nee-chan she made for the role. She said something about thinking about it like a long-term role or something.

“Yeah, Azul said something about something and to tell you to just watch the last moments of the fight from three days ago.”

The three of them turned to the TV and Floyd used to remote to switch to the video of the fight they had downloaded. Floyd didn’t skip to the end because he knew that Nee-chan liked watching everything from start to finish. 

Well, actually, she watches the first ten minutes of a movie then she would skip to the end if she found the movie interesting enough. If she liked the ending, she would go back to the place she left off and continue to watch until the end. She did the same when she reads a book, she reads the first chapter, then she flips to the last chapter. If she liked how the book ended, she would go to the second chapter and read until the end.

However, if she knows something is going to end well, she will watch and read the entire thing from start to finish without any spoiling.

Soon, they reached the end of the video where Maguro’s blue fire consumed everything and left Endeavor a chared cadaver. They watched as the Maguro on-screen laughed and cried at the same time, yelling about freedom, much to the embarrassment of the Maguro beside him.

“I admit… I may have been emotional at the end but I do not need therapy, killing Endeavor was therapy enough.”

“I disagree.” Nee-chan shook her head as she turned her sad eyes onto Maguro who flinched back, “Retribution makes you feel a bit better but trauma stays for a long time since you have been on the run and a criminal for so long, you probably never had professional help. I will do my best to help you. You already know about our past, you can just search online if you don’t, so don’t feel ashamed.”

“Yeah, I heard about your tragic backstory but I don’t need therapy. I’m fine. While I have been hit before, not to the extent you experienced and most of those times were sparing wounds that didn’t have any emotions behind them. I also never had to take care of my younger siblings so it’s not that bad.”

“Don’t compare our traumas. Everyone’s trauma leaves a lasting impression on them and just because you think you suffered less than we did doesn’t mean you haven’t suffered at all. Trauma is still trauma no matter how you put it. You may be okay now, and you may feel fine at the moment, but you need to deal with things before it gets worse. Right now, you can still function but what happens when you get triggered by something? You lived your whole life revolving around killing Endeavor but now that he’s gone you need to find out what will set you off.

“I may be wrong and you may be completely fine, which I sincerely doubt since you spent at least five years of your life plotting to kill the guy responsible for your childhood trauma, but it’s still better to talk about what happened in the past and why it has driven you to this point. Even if your past was already blasted for everyone to hear thanks to Jay-kun, talking about it will make you feel better since, by talking about it, you think about it and acknowledge that it has happened.”

Nee-chan patiently explained things to an ungrateful Maguro. The ungrateful Maguro seemed to be allergic to feelings and talking about feelings. Whatever, it was his own fault to show Azul such big red flags. He wasn’t even a genius like Floyd which means that he had to go through this the hard way.

Floyd just stole the plate of cookies and got comfortable. Watching Maguro get chewed out by Nee-chan about neglecting his mental health was better than any trash reality TV in the world.

Maguro might get attached to Nee-chan as Hairy Frogfish did. Whatever, more people protecting Nee-chan isn’t bad, even if she can protect herself. They can’t fall in love with her anyway since Azul added that in the fine print of their contracts. Nee-chan is also smart enough not to fall for idiots anyway.

“Understood?”

“... yes, ma’am.” Maguro nodded in defeat.

“Good.” Nee-chan smiled confidently as she gently patted him on the head, “Now, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Nee-chan!” Floyd waved.

“Bye, Flo-kun! Don’t cause too much trouble, remember not to get caught!”

“Of course! Who do you think I am?”

Nee-chan just laughed as she put back on her glasses and hat before leaving the room. When she left, the room that was filled with chatter turned silent as Maguro turned his unimpressed face to him.

“How are the four of you even related?” Maguro asked incredulously.

Maguro tried to take a cookie from Floyd’s plate but Floyd moved out of the way. Maguro tried again but he stopped when Floyd gave him a look. No one was going to take Floyd’s food away from him.

“Azul, Jade, and I are triplets while Nee-chan is our Nee-chan. We all came from the same mom and dad. “

“You said she raised you, how exactly did you three end up like this?”

“We were born like this.”

“Ah so in a fight between nature and nurture, it seems like nature wins…” Maguro muttered.

“Huh? You say something, Maguro?”

“No.”

After that day, Maguro had to go to his bimonthly therapy meetings with Nee-chan. He goes in like a man preparing himself to go to war but when he comes out, he looks like someone whose lifeforce got drained. His expressions were always so funny. Floyd and Himiko made a compilation video of their favourite expressions and played it on loop on the TV in Azul’s office.

They always play it when Maguro comes to Azul’s office to get his jobs. They even started making a separate compilation video for the expressions he makes when watching the TV.

Nee-chan told them to stop bullying Maguro because now most of their sessions are him complaining about them but Floyd was having fun, he wasn’t going to let some words from Maguro stop him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Floyd hated this. This was all Maguro’s fault. It’s his fault they have to deal with these people. It’s all because he had to scream about False Heroes and now they have to deal with so many people trying to rally behind him. This means a lot of people trying to find out which groups he’s affiliated with.

Azul wants Octavinelle to stay in the shadows and unknown to unimportant people to make things easier. 

However, the thing that really made Azul angry was that some other group was trying to use what Dabi did to gain more members. A group calling themselves the Meta Liberation Army was using Dabi’s words of getting rid of False Heroes as a reason to join them. On paper, they are a group who wants to get rid of the suppression of quirks and to be allowed to use them in daily life

They say that if they were allowed to use their quirks in daily life, there would be fewer False Heroes since a good number of Pro Heroes only became heroes because they wanted to use their quirks.

“If they want to use the words of one of our workers, they need to pay a price. Nothing in the world is free and this is no exception.” Azul declared as he put on a mask as they drove to the MLA meeting spot.

“Why did I have to come? Nee-chan said I could have gone with her to the movie set today!” Floyd complained.

“Relax, Floyd. This will be over in a moment.” Jade said.

“Over in a moment, they say.” Maguro grumbled as he drove.

“Didja say something, Maguro?”

“No.”

“Well, it will be over in a moment. We just have to show Dabi-san’s face, explain our long-term goal to them, and absorb their group into our fold.” Azul explained patiently as he forced Floyd to wear the mask he was given.

“And if they refuse?” Maguro asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? Floyd is here for a reason you know, he’s not just here for aesthetic reasons.”

“You could have fooled me…” Maguro muttered, “You melodramatic boss.”

Floyd just laughed as Azul’s smile went stuff, “If you wanted your pay to be docked, you could have just asked.”

“No, boss. Sorry, boss.” Maguro said dryly.

“Ne, ne, Azul, since this is all Maguro’s fault, you should dock his pay. Dock his pay and let me squeeze him.”

Unfortunately, Azul didn’t give Floyd permission to punish Maguro for the extra work he caused them. 

When they got to the location, it was easy to sneak in. Floyd snapped a picture of Maguro’s expression for Himiko when they just walked past the guards without them even saying anything. 

“How?” Maguro muttered, “There was no quirk use, I should know since we’re the only ones here from Octa, so how?”

“Fufufu, there’s never a dull moment when around Azul.” Jade laughed, deliberately making Maguro more confused.

They made their way to the front of the meeting. Standing right at the edge of the stage waiting for the right moment to interrupt. As in the moment where Azul would get the most attention and make everyone look like idiots. Maguro was still muttering unpleasant things about secrets and crazy employers, which was rude. He signed the contract, this was all on him. He has no one to blame but himself.

“Well now, that was an interesting speech.” Azul said as he clapped his hands and removed the illusion that was hiding them, “Truly, you must have worked really hard to make that speech.”

Floyd watched as everyone froze and stared at them. They were confused but they recognized Maguro.

“Who are you? Since you have Dabi-san with you, are you here to join the cause?” A random blue-skinned woman asked.

“We are the people who organized Dabi-san and Endeavor’s fight. You see, you have been using Dabi-san’s words without permission to rally your own group. You know why we would take issue with that, right?”

Floyd let Azul do all the talking. Talking was not fun, squeezing people was fun. To this day, Floyd would never understand why Azul and Jade like talking so much. Azul just talked and talked while Jade added a few things from time to time. Floyd got bored so he needled Maguro into playing rock-papers-scissors.

Azul was going to get mad at them for getting distracted and ruining his grande speech or whatever later but Floyd didn’t care. He was bored.

“Leech 2, stop playing rock-papers-scissors and go.” Azul ordered, pointing to the large group of people that appeared behind them.

Floyd didn’t like that he was named Leech 2, he would rather be Leech 1 but Jade pulled the older card and he won their fight so he was stuck with it. There used to be a wall where Azul was pointing. Was it a fake wall? 

Floyd smiled, “I get to play?”

“Yeah, just no killing this time.” Azul said before adding after thinking, “Don’t permanently injure anyone either.”

“Aww, no fun.” Floyd pouted before he started smiling again, this time with all his sharp teeth showing, “Ready or not, here I come!”

Floyd sprinted into the group, making sure not to kill or injure anyone, just enough to knock them out. It was so much work to keep them alive but Floyd was still happy he could get to squeeze so many people.

“Watch out!” Maguro yelled.

From the corner of Floyd’s eyes, he could see one of the debris running towards Azul instead of him.

Idiot.

Azul caught the idiot and held them up by the neck using his right thumb and right middle finger.

“Never mind…” Maguro muttered.

“Dabi-san, did you really think I needed Leech 2 as a bodyguard?” Azul laughed as he flung the idiot back to where he came from.

“Fufufu, the Boss is stronger than both Floyd and I, Dabi-san.” Jade laughed as he tried to educate Maguro, it was pointless but if Jade wanted to Floyd wouldn’t stop him, “We would never listen to someone weaker than we are, brother or not. If the Boss really was weak, we would have left him to die a long time ago.”

“You three brothers are really coldhearted…” Maguro muttered.

Let Maguro say whatever he wanted, he was just tired and dumb. Soon, Floyd finished with the group and bounced back to Azul and Jade. Azul said some things and he managed to get everyone to sign contracts with him before they left. Some people obviously tried to tail them but they couldn’t find them through the illusion magic.

Maguro seemed to have given up understanding things and decided that he should just roll with it. It seems he was finally getting smarter.

Floyd didn’t know the details of the contract Azul made them sign but he did know that it involves letting them help when he starts rewriting the Quirk Laws or something so long as they don’t say anything about today to anyone who would arrest them or whatever. They also couldn’t use Dabi’s name or words anymore, or they can because they were working together now. Floyd wasn’t listening.

Floyd didn’t care. He just wanted to have more fun.

Chapter Text

Azul smirked as he watched the news on the TV in his office. The news was showing the media conference UA was doing in response to the kidnapping of Bakugou Katsuki during their summer training camp.

“This really isn’t the year for the so-called Heroes of this society.” Azul commented as he sipped his tea and started talking dramatically, “First, there is the still-ongoing investigation of the many massacres that started happening a while back. Next, it was the Hero Killer who is still at large. Then it was the attack on Hosu. After that, it was the death of Endeavor and the revelation of all his misdeeds behind closed doors. And finally, this. The kidnapping of a first-year hero student from UA no less. The public support for heroes is currently at an all-time low. Such a pity.”

“Do you mean the massacres you ordered Floyd to commit? The Hero Killer who is currently on our payroll? The attack on Hosu we took advantage of to kidnap Endeavor so that our newest recruit could exact his revenge?” Jade asked, “Out of the five incidences you spoke of, we caused at least two and a half of them.”

“We didn’t cause the creation of the Hero Killer.” Azul pointed out.

“Which is why I said we caused two and a half of them.” Jade reminded Azul, “While it did take a while to convince Akaguro Chizome to join our group instead of going off on his own, we do have him as our hero assassin now.”

“Our own hero assassin who only kills the targets we give him after reviewing all the information we give him and doing some investigation on his own.” Azul complained, “Not that I don’t like his dedication, in fact, it makes him a bit more tolerable than the local mindless sheep, but it’s a bit frustrating that he takes so long to carry out orders.”

“Better a slow person who thinks things through than a fool who rushes into things without thought.” 

“Was that something a Scarabia student said?”

“Why yes, he said it to his best friend who was an anemone during the year Yuu arrived at NRC. Apparently, he barely passed his exams but he never got your notes.”

Azul hummed as he refocused on the conference. The teacher of UA’s Class 1-A was a man called Aizawa Shouta, who was known as Eraserhead to the general public. It grated on the part of Azul’s soul that was a part of the Board Game Club that Eraserhead was technically an underground hero but was also popular. A rogue-type character is supposed to be one with the shadows, not known by the people of the light!

Perhaps he listened to Idia’s video game rants a bit too much but playing Dungeons & Dragons was a board game they both enjoyed playing. Azul often played gamemaster but he did like playing the rogue when it was someone else’s turn to be the gamemaster and he wasn’t allowed to be a merchant.

Back to the conference. It wasn’t anything new, it was fairly generic. It was like a company was under fire for horrible conditions, employee abuse, uncomfortably low wages, or whatever other scandals came to light. Horrible things that would never happen under Azul’s careful watch. 

Naturally, Azul ran a tight ship so no matter how illegal his dealings were, he always made sure his workers were properly paid and had the best working conditions possible given their profession. For example, the workers working in shady bars won’t be able to work in a very clean place but the staff break room would be spotless. Azul might have all his employees under what could be argued as a slave contract for life but he would never abuse the power too much unless they deserve it

The media and everyone there kept yelling at Aizawa about something or another while he tried to reassure people. Azul could care less about this but he couldn’t help but criticize the fact that the man wasn’t doing that well with the public speaking and he didn’t look professional at all.

“So, is it time?” Jade asked, interrupting Azul’s muttering.

“Yes. All For One is finally going to make his move and I can win that bet. Finally, things are moving again.” Azul smirked.

They continued to watch until the channel switched to broadcasting an explosion happening in Kamino. A few high-ranking Pro Heroes when after the student while other (a bit lower-ranking) Pro Heroes when after a lab owned by All For One. The camera glanced over the lab and instead focused on the fighting between the villains and Pro Heroes, much to Azul’s disappointment.

“The first order of business is to go through all the labs he owns. After gathering all the data and seeing if any of the probably unethical research he did could benefit us at all, destroy everything and don’t leave a trace that it was ever there.” Azul said as he wrote it down in his agenda.

“How about the people who work under All For One?”

“Put them to work for us in our R&D department. However, if they like doing those kinds of experiments, then let Himiko deal with them. She might like more disguises on hand, at least that way they’ll be of use.”

“We need to check them for any diseases first, we still don’t know how ingesting blood infected with diseases affects her so it’s better not to risk it.”

“If there are any infected people… let Jiro-san handle it. He should know what to do with them, just make sure he knows that he shouldn’t waste anything.”

“He might make Maguro burn ‘em though.” Floyd commented as he strolled into the room with a bowl of popcorn.

Following him was Himiko, who was carrying their drinks, and Dabi who looked as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. It probably wasn’t because of his therapy session since the last one was three days ago so it was probably dealing with the crazy couple’s antics.

Dabi was looking much better. Thanks to potions, they were able to grow back his skin and make him look normal again. Without the piercings, patches of burnt skin that were held together by staples, and the black hair, it was hard to tell he was Dabi. His current look consists of blue contact lenses of a different shade from his original eye colour, dyed blond hair, and pair of barbels (Author's Note: Barbels are the whisker-like things on some fish species)on the sides under his mouth.

The barbels were a side-effect of the failed vision-improving potion but it helped create a civilian identity for Dabi since it seems like this guy had some type of Mutant Type Quirk instead of being a wanted criminal.

“I wouldn’t mind it if I get to kill the bastards who messed with my body.” Dabi commented as he took a seat.

They all watched the fight between the Pro Heroes and villains with varying levels of interest. Azul was proud to say that none of his people were interested in the good versus evil storyline the media was trying to spin this as and were instead interested in the physical fight itself.

Nee-chan was busy filming a shoot on the beaches of Kagoshima while Kurono was putting Eri to sleep so they weren’t here to watch the show with them.

“ ... Now, it’s your turn. ” All Might said as he pointed to the camera.

It was a bit surprising that this was how All Might was going to retire, his secret real body exposed to the world, but it was his time anyway so Azul wasn’t too bothered. He only lost a few yen to Jade, but it wasn’t a big bet.

“You know, I never would have thought All Might would be that scrawny in his untransformed body.” Dabi commented as he ate another piece of popcorn.

“Really? We knew this a long time ago, Maguro. Try to keep up.”

Dabi was turning into quite the saint when only his eye twitched at Floyd’s provocation. Azul would think about giving him a bonus later.

Dabi turned to Azul, “Well? What now? I remember you said something about a bet and you just won, right? So how are you going to get your winnings?”

Azul smirked, “Why, Dabi-san! Have you learned anything during your stay with us? Did you already forget about the contract you signed?”

Dabi was about to answer when a look of realization appeared on his face. His mouth was wide open as he mouthed nonsense. His eyes were asking if Azul did the thing Dabi thinks he did.

“Of course.” Azul huffed, “What did you take me for, an amateur? Please, in seventy-two hours, All For One will die.”

“Why do you need to wait six days?”

“Because in the contract, Azul had added that as soon as one of the bets has been confirmed, there will be a five-day period to discuss where they would meet. Should one party not be reached or not show up, they would lose. He added that to give the other party the illusion that things would be fine.”

Dabi muttered some unflattering things about the strangeness of the triplets that Azul decided to be merciful and ignore him.

As soon as six days passed, there was a worldwide announcement that All For One had died in prison due to a heart attack and everyone started celebrating. During the celebrations, Azul made his round around the new territory he got. He also made a list of his new workers and disposed of the ones he didn’t want.

For someone who was allegedly very smart, most of the men All For One employed had an average IQ of 50. They’re good run-of-the-mill grunts but horrible for any job that requires intelligence. 

In the end, Azul decided that he and Jade would take care of Eri while throwing all that annoying stuff onto Kurono to deal with. Even if Azul usually liked doing the foundational work on his own, there was a limit to how much stupidity he was willing to deal with and he has long met his quota for the year.

While Kurono dealt with that, Azul sent Floyd to deal with the League of Villains. There was no saving that group. It wasn’t that they are bad people, in fact, Azul would probably agree that they were just ordinary people with visions of grandeur but Azul would rather not deal with people who have joined a group created by the spoiled manchild successor of All For One. It was just too much of a headache.

However, Azul did tell Floyd to keep the bodies of Shimura Tenko and Kurogiri so they could send them to the Pro Heroes. Shimura to Yagi while Kurogiri to Aizawa, both with their histories written out in the letter that would go with them. Azul typed everything out and printed it while in an American library so they couldn’t track it back to him if they tried to use the letter as a clue.

From what his spies told him, All Might spent a few days grieving in his room before going back to his normal schedule, if more subdued than normal. As for Aizawa, he and Yamada arranged something to see if the letter they got with Kurogiri’s body was the truth. When they got back the results that Kurogiri used the genetically modified body of Shirakumo Oboro, they held a second funeral for him and mourned for weeks before they got back to a semblance of normalcy. 

Since they were done with All For One and the like, there was no reason for Himiko to stay at UA any longer. So Azul called her to his office and asked if she wanted to finish high school or if she would like to drop out. Unsurprisingly, even though Himiko made some acquaintances at school, she much rather spends time as herself than as a socially accepted version of herself. As soon as she said that, Azul called Nee-chan.

“Sorry, Azz-kun but can you please make this as quick as possible? I have five minutes left for my lunch break since we went a bit over schedule today.” Nee-chan asked as soon as she picked up.

“Of course. Due to reasons that I’m sure you know, Himiko has asked to leave UA. Can you talk with the principal about that?”

“Sure, that place isn’t that safe anyway so sure. Oh crud, I have to go now. I’ll be back in a week and it’s still summer vacation so tell Himi-chan that she won’t have to go back when the break is over, ‘kay? Bye.” Nee-chan said as she hung up.

Azul sighed and turned to Himiko who was waiting for his answer by messing up his carefully organized pens.

“Stop that!” Azul exclaimed as he put everything back in its place.

“Boo.” Himiko whined, “So? What did Nee-chan say?”

“She said that she’ll deal with it in a week and that, if things turn out well, you won’t need to go back after the summer break.”

“Yay!” Himiko cheered.

When Nee-chan did come back, she managed to pull Himiko out of UA with minimal fanfare. The staff at UA knew better than to fight Nee-chan about this. If Nee-chan was a normal person, they would have tried to convince her to let Himiko stay, however, Nee-chan was famous worldwide. If she says anything to the media, UA’s shaky reputation which was slowly climbing back up would plummet like a rock within seconds. 

Azul would like to borrow Nee-chan’s fame someday but he knew it would make her mad so he would refrain for now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Azul smirked as he walked down the hall that was lined with his minions, flanked by Jade and Floyd. It took a while, a full decade in fact, but he finally accomplished his dream from his last life. Sure, the people he has crushed under his heel aren’t the ones who tormented him as a child, but he has this world’s underworld (and the political world by proxy) in his control so it was close enough.

“Azul~ when can we go on vacation?” Floyd whined, “Nee-chan and Eri-chan want to visit Italia~”

“Fufufu, you mean Nee-chan and Eri-chan wish for us to spend time as a family and you want to go to Italy.” Jade corrected without a change in his usual fake polite smile.

“Let me finalize the proposal that we’ll be giving to the Prime Minister next month first, I’m sure we can fit a vacation somewhere.” Azul reassured when his phone beeped and Azul glanced down at it, “Jade, Floyd, it seems like there’s a confirmed spy in our ranks. Though, it’s from the Hero Commission this time.”

“Let Maguro-kun take care of it. Let’s go already!” Floyd exclaimed happily.

Azul just nodded. He wasn’t agreeing with Floyd, he just needed to answer or else Floyd got difficult. He was resigned, Floyd, even after all these years, still can’t fit the gentlemen's image that Azul desires so Azul did the smart thing and gave up. Azul has learned that when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, the unstoppable force wins in the end. It only got worse now that he has Himiko who was just as crazy.

“Yes, Dabi-san can handle something that simple.” Jade agreed.

“Fine, Dabi will handle Hawks. Jade, figure out Hawks’ real name, maybe we can turn him into our spy.” Azul ordered.

“Fufufu, Azul, ever the opportunist.” Jade smiled, “I am so happy you’re my brother this time around. Finding you again would have been tedious.”

Azul despaired for the nth time. Why? Why was he reincarnated as a triplet with Jade and Floyd? Of all people, why them? The (many) sins he committed back in his first life weren’t worth this much agony, were they?

“Well, Jade, arrange for the trip, I’m thinking a week should be long enough. A trip for the five of us, unless Himiko wants to come as well?”

“Yep, she wants to try some authentic Italian pasta!”

Azul nodded and had Jade write it down. This trip would be the perfect reward for himself. He deserves it for getting the Meta Liberation Army’s stamp of approval on the revised laws he was pushing. It only took so long because the members of the MLA wanted more drastic changes but they conceded after a lot of back and forth when they finally got it through their thick heads that reforms start small for a reason.

Too big and you get so much backlash that it becomes impossible to move forward. At least by starting slow, you get the ball rolling. Slow progress is much better than no progress after all.

“How much longer until we have the Hero Commission under our control?” Azul asked.

“In a few months at best, a year at worst.” Jade answered.

“Good.” Azul smirked.

“Fufufu, turning Hawks into our own spy would be entertaining. For now, he is spying for the Hero Commission. If we turn him against them, he would be spying for us instead of the Hero Commission. However, if we leave him be while taking over the Hero Commission with him none the wiser, he would be spying on us for us. Wouldn’t that be an interesting situation?” Jade asked as he laughed.

“Let’s ask Dabi-san after he gets a read on the spy. Either way, it would be amusing to see how this plays out.” Azul answered, “Still, get his background information-”

“Already done.” Jade said, “I will forward the information in just a moment.”

Azul felt his phone buzz and knew that it was the email Jade just said he would send. All Azul could do at this point is hope that Jade never got bored.

“Ne, ne, Azul~ wouldn’t it be weird being in charge of the heroes while being a villain? How are you going to do that?” Floyd asked.

“It will be a difficult balancing act but I can do it.” Azul declared with a proud smirk on his face, “A delicate balancing act, making sure my people are safe while also making sure the Pro Heroes can still work.”

“Might as well get rid of the Pro Heroes altogether, or at least thin their numbers.”  Jade commented

“Too much fish means not enough food.” Floyd nodded.

“We’ll see what’s to come in a year or three, whatever will happen, I’m sure it will be fun.” 

Azul smirked as he thought about the power he now holds. He was standing at the top of the world and he was loving it.

Chapter Text

Floyd was bored. Himiko was out shopping with Nee-chan (or were they going to the mall or a small gang that popped up?) and Jade was helping Azul with paperwork so there was nothing to do. 

Even little Eri was busy with homework.

Floyd could have spied on Maguro-kun and his date with Mekajiki-kun (Author Note: Mekajiki means swordfish) but he already did that last week so it wasn't interesting to do anymore. Maguro-kun insisted it was information gathering but Floyd wasn't an idiot. 

Azul was the idiot, Floyd was the genius.

Floyd turned on the TV and saw that it was an interview with an up-and-coming hero named Deku. Floyd barely paid any attention until the new hero gave the interviewer an interesting answer.

“The man said to me, ‘How can ya be a hero when you don’t put in the effort? You’re all skin and bone, no muscle on you. How can you even dream of being a hero and say all that if you don’t even try?’ It burned because I knew it was true. I just kept yelling that I wanted to be a hero even when I didn’t know about my quirk. He said it best, I was just a dreamer who’d never be a hero because I didn’t even try. Maybe it’s because, subconsciously, I thought everyone else was right. That I would never be a hero so I didn’t try, but I did. I tried and I’m here. So, to every dreamer out there, don’t give up before you try because you can only achieve your dreams if you put in the effort to do so.”

Floyd crackled. 

A hero, inspired by a villain with a kill count in the hundreds, nearing thousands. Oh, the irony.

Floyd quickly found the video on HeroTube and sent the link to the group chat.